To Know My Secrets
by diinamichelle
Summary: A mysterious girl is brought to Hogwarts. What is her connection to Lord Voldemort and Harry? Note: This fic is rated PG-13 for mild language and suggestive dialogue. This fic involves an extremely ditzy blonde girl. Avoid if you cannot stand stupidity.
1. Chapter 1: Deena MacDonald

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 1: Deena MacDonald

Dumbledore's office again? Draco Malfoy sighed as he walked through the halls of Hogwarts. Just what had he done this time? He couldn't think of a single rule he'd broken. It was his Seventh year, and he'd only been to the office about a gazillion times. (He was breaking rules right and left, trying to be more of a nuisance than Potter.) It was the first week of October and the chill of fall was setting in.

He found that a trip to Dumbledore's office got shorter with every trip, and he was there in no time. Upon admittance, he flung himself into a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"What have I done now?" Draco drawled lazily.

"Actually it's what the Ministry and I hope you'll do," Dumbledore replied. "We need someone to go to America and retrieve a student, Deena MacDonald."

"Why doesn't someone from the Ministry go?"

"There are no members of the Ministry available to go. Also, we wanted someone her own age to befriend her and persuade her to come," Dumbledore explained. He slid a picture across the desk to Draco.

It was a Muggle picture; it didn't move. The girl had blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a cutesy little girl look about her, making her seem about twelve, but what Draco could see of her cleavage told him she was older.

"So you want me to go to America and bring this"- (He searched his mind for the name Dumbledore had used.)- "Deena to Hogwarts? Sounds simple enough," Draco said confidently.

"You'll be enlisting in the public school and your schedule will follow hers exactly. You'll go under the alias Derek Minks."

"Minks?" Draco asked scornfully.

"Yes, you'll be staying with the Thompsons as a cousin once-removed on your mother's side. They'll pick you up at the airport"-

"Airport? Why do I have to travel Muggle style?"

"The public school is also Muggle. And you're traveling Muggle style to make the whole thing less conspicuous," Dumbledore explained.

-

Deena MacDonald tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. She was listening to her friend Ray, who was explaining her latest problem to Deena. Deena thought about a logical conclusion as the bus lurched to a stop in front of the high school.

"Another week in the hellhole begins," Deena said to Ray, causing Ray to laugh. They walked into the building and Deena noticed a new student examining his schedule and map of the school, looking lost and confused. His hair was slicked back, rich-kid style and he was wearing dress slacks and a button-up-the-front white dress shirt. She couldn't help but notice his silver-blonde hair and wondered if he had shocking blue eyes.

"Deena? Haven't you been paying attention?" Ray asked, bringing Deena back into focus.

"Sorry. I just remembered something I have to do. See you later," Deena excused herself, heading towards the new boy. Ray called out a good bye and left. Deena stopped in front of the boy. "Hi. Can I help you?"

He looked up into her eyes. She was somewhat surprised by his grey eyes. "I'm looking for homeroom 211," he drawled in a cold voice that sent shivers up her back.

"Oh, that's my homeroom. I'll show you the way. But we'll have to stop at my locker. Follow me," she said, leading him to the second floor.


	2. Chapter 2: Classes

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 2: Classes

The girl was definitely Deena. Draco had no doubts about that. It was pure luck that Deena had run into him almost immediately. After she had grabbed some books from her locker, they went to homeroom.

"Hey Deena," a girl with chin-length dirty blonde hair said.

"Hey Sue," Deena replied, sitting next to the girl. Draco took a seat next to Deena.

"Who's that?" Sue asked.

"I'm Derek," Draco introduced himself.

"Let me see your schedule," Deena said, taking it from him. "You've got Chorus first. So do I." She studied it more intensely, her blue eyes full of concentration. "You have every class with me. And we share a locker. That's weird."

-

"You like him," Sue accused Deena in Chorus. Derek was sitting across the room with the tenors and Deena couldn't stop looking at him.

"Shut up, Sue," Deena hissed, looking away from Derek and smiling. She turned her eyes to the floor and covered her grin with her hands.

The bell rang to go to the next class. Throwing her books on her seat, Deena stood and put on her jacket. Picking up her purse, she turned back to her chair. Her books weren't there. Deena whirled around to look for them and found her face less than an inch from Derek. He was a head taller than her and she had to look up to see his face. He was holding her books and situating her backpack on his right shoulder.

"Oh. You don't have to carry my books," Deena told him. "I can carry them."

"No, you can't," he contradicted. "If you do, you'll probably snap in half."

"Why, you"- she started indignantly. "Give me those." Deena tried to take her books, but he was stronger. He wasn't even struggling to resist her. "Fine!" She turned on her heel and headed for the door.

Derek followed and grabbed her arm with his free hand. She turned to look at him. "Are you angry?" he asked, smirking.

"Duh," she responded condescendingly.

"Don't be mad," Derek said, pulling her closer.

Deena felt her heartbeat pick up. Her legs were turning to jelly and she couldn't have pulled away if she wanted to. Her breath came in gasps and her whole body went numb. "We're going to be late for English," she whispered. _Why did I say that?_

He let go of her, and Deena practically ran to English class. She took her seat in the back next to her friend Elizabeth. Derek put her books on her desk, and then asked the teacher for a seat. He was sat in front, next to a girl named Megan. Sue, who was also in this class, came back to talk to Deena and Elizabeth.

"Already got him carrying your books," Sue said, knowing it would bother Deena.

-

Draco found pleasure in annoying Deena. But he really enjoyed the confusion he had inflicted upon her. He'd been holding her wrist when he pulled her close, and he knew her pulse had quickened, not to mention the fact that she started breathing heavily.

Draco wasn't paying attention to the teacher. He didn't care about these classes. When the bell rang, he went back and took Deena's books again. She led him to Keyboarding, with Sue and Elizabeth tagging behind. There weren't enough computers for him to have one, so he pulled a chair over behind Deena. He rested his chin on her shoulder, and he felt her body tense up.

"Look, Deena. He likes you too," Sue said.

"Sue! Shut your mouth," Deena hissed, turning red and shrugging her shoulder to move his chin.

"Derek, honey, I need to talk to you," Mrs. Long, the Keyboarding teacher, said. Reluctantly, he got up and went over to see what she wanted. As he walked away, he heard Deena let out a sigh of relief and start whispering to her friends. He couldn't help but smile; she was falling head over heels for him. Draco was making considerable progress.

"What seems to be the trouble?" he drawled lazily to Mrs. Long.

"Even if we had enough computers, you don't have an ID or password yet, so you can't get on today. So you can sit over here at the table and try to find something else to do, okay?"

"Is it alright if I stay where I'm at?" he asked politely.

"Well, Deena has a lot of work to do today," Mrs. Long said reluctantly. "I'm afraid you'd be a distraction.

"I won't bother her," he said sincerely.

"Yeah, right," Deena retorted loudly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was a distraction," he returned, walking over to Deena, taking her hand, and giving it a quick kiss.

-

_Why did he have to kiss my hand?_ Deena silently cursed as she felt herself melting. Guys didn't normally affect her like this. Then again, guys had never shown an interest in her. They went after girls who wore expensive designer clothes, whereas Deena wore whatever she felt comfortable in.

Derek went and sat at the table and Sue and Elizabeth started in on Deena.

"So?" Sue said.

"So what?" Deena asked.

"So, what do you think of him?"

"How?"

"Rate him," Elizabeth told her.

"Well..." Deena said reluctantly. Suddenly, Noelle called Mrs. Long into the back room to help her with the computer. Derek snuck over to a computer and began trying to log on. "He's a...charming, handsome gentleman who, from the looks of it, is rich," Deena said, deciding not to mention the fact that he infuriated her.

"But?" Elizabeth asked, knowing Deena was holding back.

"He's really good at making me mad," Deena said softly. "And...he...confuses me." She lost her volume and faded to below a whisper at the end.

"Then do you like him?" Sue inquired.

"Yes, I think I do," Deena whispered. She looked at Derek. He pressed a button on his keyboard and the computer screens started to flicker and emit weird sounds. Mrs. Long ran in from the back room and yelled:

"TURN 'EM OFF! THEY'RE GONNA BLOW!"

-

After Keyboarding was Physical Education. Deena updated her friends Heather, Jamie, Ashley, Karen, and Leah on her situation. Derek, who'd been unable to dress in a school gym uniform, sat off to the side and Deena pointed him out to her friends.

Lost in thought during a game of kickball, while running to second base, Deena never noticed the ball flying at her head. When it hit her, she fell. The last thing she wanted to do was fall in front of Derek and make an idiot of herself, so she tried to catch herself on an awkward angle.

A searing pain lit Deena's arm on fire. Her eyes clenched shut and she hit the floor. She heard a strange, snake-like voice while lost in darkness.

"_You'll be fine, Deena. Open your eyes_," it hissed.

"Open your eyes," she heard another voice say. "Come on. Deena."

Slowly, Deena opened her eyes. When they focused, she saw Derek's face inches from hers. She blinked as the class gathered around her and it came to her attention that her arm felt fine. The gym teacher pushed through the students. Derek had his arms wrapped around her. Realizing how incriminating her situation looked, she pulled away from Derek. (Her friends would claim she let herself get hit just so Derek would hold her.) The teacher, Mr. Sarlet, got down beside her.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Sarlet asked.

"I'm fine," Deena replied.

"Is your arm okay?"

"I think so."

"Let me have a look." Mr. Sarlet checked her arm to make sure it wasn't broken. When he was satisfied with her arm and her claims to being alright, the game resumed.

-

"We don't have any open seats," Mr. Herbert, the History teacher, told Draco. "I don't know where you're going to sit."

"No problem. I've got a place in mind," Draco answered. Deena had left her books by her seat, and was talking to another friend, Ann. (_Does she have enough friends?_) Her seat was empty and Draco took it. When the bell rang for class to begin, Deena came back to her seat and he met her with a smirk.

Draco had sat in a manner that left Deena with two options. One, she would sit on the edge of the seat and be uncomfortable, or two, lean back against him to be comfortable. There was one catch. Either way, she had to sit between his legs. Deena chose to sit on the edge of the seat.

"Deena, is that going to be a problem?" Mr. Herbert asked. All the students turned to stare at them.

"No, Mr. Herbert. It won't be a problem at all," Deena answered quietly.

As the minutes in class ticked away, Draco waited for her to lean back. He knew the discomfort of her position would eventually force her to give in. When she finally gave in, he rested his chin on the top of her head, and rested his hands on her legs. She quickly moved his hands and he quickly replaced them. Deena moved his hands again, but this time she held onto them to prevent him from replacing them on her legs. He could've if he wanted to, but she'd put up a resistance and he'd probably have to break her arms to do so. If he did, then there'd been no point in him risking his cover by using his wand to heal her arm in gym. Near the end of the class, the students had some free time to talk.

"Where do you live?" he asked Deena.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm just asking."

"I live in Delta," she answered evasively.

"Give me an address," he ordered.

"Where do you live?"

"I've never heard of an address like that," he quipped before answering. "In the Trails, with the Thompsons."

"Oh, I know the Thompsons. I'm good friends with them," Deena replied.

"Do they know where you live?"

"Yeah, of course. Oh frick," she mumbled.

"Mr. Thompson's giving me a ride to school tomorrow. We'll give you a ride," he said.

At the end of the day, when he got on his bus, he looked for a seat. "Hey Derek!" Sue yelled. "Come sit with me." Draco couldn't stand the girl, but he sat with her anyway. "So, uh, Derek...what do you think of Deena?"

"Why do you ask?" he responded.

"No reason," Sue said. "Seriously, though."

"She's..." (He paused, searching for a good phrase.) "...a cute girl with a sexy ass."

"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah."

"That's good," Sue said.

"What does she think of me?" Draco asked.

"She said, and I quote, 'He's a charming, handsome gentleman who, from the looks of it, is rich.' She also said you're good at making her mad," Sue said. "Oh, crud. She's going to kill me for telling you that."

"Why do you have to tell her?"

"I can't keep a secret. Didn't I just prove that?"


	3. Chapter 3: On the Roof

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 3: On the Roof

Deena checked her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was good and her outfit didn't clash. She was wearing a low-cut black shirt and an ankle length black skirt.

"Deena, Mr. Thompson's here," her mother yelled.

"Coming!" Deena said, bounding downstairs and grabbing her books.

"You look nice today," her mother complimented her.

"Thanks. Gotta go." Deena hurried out the door. She slid into the back of Mr. Thompson's car with Derek. Having nothing better to do, she started a conversation with Derek. She soon noticed he wasn't looking at her face. She followed his eyes down to find her shirt hanging open to give him a nice view. She quickly put her hand up to cover her cleavage and apologized, turning red.

He flicked his eyes up to meet hers. "You don't have to apologize. I was enjoying the view," Derek told her.

"Flatterer," Deena accused with a smile.

In homeroom, Sue kept trying to tell Deena something, but Derek wouldn't let her say a word. It was really weird. After Chorus, Derek came over and took her books once again. As they walked through the halls, he stopped by a janitor's closet and mumbled something.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" Deena asked, turning around.

Derek flung her into the closet, said some more incomprehensible words, and came in, slamming the door shut behind him. He stuck something in his pocket, but it was too dark for her to see what it was. She wondered why he had her in a closet, and the first thought that came to her mind was that he was going to rape her.

"I'll scream if you don't let me out," she told him.

"Go ahead and try it," he retorted, pulling the thing out of his pocket and pointing it at her. "_Silencio_."

Deena opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. When she asked him what he had done to her, only her mouth moved. No sound escaped her lips.

-

"I've taken away your voice," Draco explained, smirking at her obvious displeasure. From the look on her face and the way her mouth was moving, he gathered she was using several profane words. "Language, MacDonald," he chided. Deena looked ready to hit him, so he used a spell to bind her wrists and ankles.

She struggled to keep her balance and not fall. Draco wrapped an arm around her waist, but she jerked away, causing her to lose her balance. Draco caught her before she hit the floor. Deena tried to pull away again. She mouthed "let go" with an indescribable viciousness on her face.

"If I let go, you'll fall and hit your head. So you could either be conscious in my presence or unconscious. It really doesn't matter to me. Now, do you want me to let go?" Deciding consciousness was better, she shook her head "no". "Alright then." He pulled her back onto her feet. Still holding her, he apparated to the roof of the school.

Draco had her sit down, then sat across from her. From her angry glare, he gathered that she wanted her voice back. He removed the spell from her. Unfortunately, this meant that she'd seen his wand and he'd have to use a Memory charm on her if she didn't accept what he had to tell her.

"Tell me this. What's Draco Malfoy doing in a Muggle school in America?" Deena asked. He was shocked that she knew who he was. "You can't fool me. I've read the books."

"What books?" he asked, feeling somewhat stupid.

"The Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling," she answered, waiting for a look of recognition on his face.

"Well, this makes my job a lot easier," Draco said, more to himself than to Deena.

"What job?"

"I was sent by the Ministry of Magic to bring you back to Hogwarts. You're a witch, Deena."

"Let's suspend reality for a second and pretend I believed you. Why would I go to Hogwarts? I'm from America. Wouldn't I go to an American school for witchcraft and wizardry?"

-

Sue opened the door of a closet. She saw Deena's books scattered over the floor. She didn't think much about what had happened to Deena; Sue was a bit busy cutting class. She saw a ladder in the back and, after picking her way through the books, climbed it to the roof.

Walking on the roof (and happy to be out of class), Sue heard voices. And they weren't the ones inside her head. She snuck behind one of the fans on the roof and started eavesdropping.

"...I don't know why they want you to go to Hogwarts. I'm just the messenger," Derek informed Deena.

"Why would they send you? After all, you're Draco Malfoy, the rich, stuck-up, too-good-for-everything-and-everyone bastard," Deena retorted.

"So, that's Draco Malfoy," Sue mused. "I thought he looked familiar."

"Bastard? I have a father," Draco returned.

"I didn't mean it literally, retard," Deena snapped. "You still haven't answered my question. Why did they send you?"

"I don't know," he answered exasperatedly. "They told me to befriend you and persuade you to come back."

"You did a good job," Deena said sarcastically.

Sue laughed at that. Draco turned in her direction, his wand drawn. "Come out where I can see you," he commanded.

Sue moved to make sure he couldn't see her. But she tripped and fell flat on her face out into plain sight. She jumped up. "Oops," she giggled.

"What did you hear?"

"Nothing," Sue lied. "Well...I heard something about Deena being a witch and going to Hogwarts, you're a bastard, you were sent to persuade Deena to go back to Hogwarts, and you didn't do a good job of it, but other than that I didn't hear a thing."

"Sue, you are such an idiot," Deena remarked.

"What a shame. Now I'll have to use a Memory charm on you," Draco said, his tone implying that he wanted to use one on Sue.

"Why? She won't remember as it is. Sue isn't exactly what you'd call intelligent. In fact, I don't believe she has any brain at all," Deena insulted. Silence prevailed for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry. What were we talking about?" Sue said cheerily.

"Sue, I can't believe you already forgot," Deena mumbled.

"You aren't serious, are you?" Draco asked skeptically.

"If I remembered, I'd tell you. But I honestly don't," Sue confessed. Then, she walked over and promptly flipped Draco over her head and onto the roof. "That's for not believing me," Sue said while Draco lay on the roof with a dazed expression on his face.

"Um, I have another question," Deena said, holding back laughter. "Even if I believe you, and my parents believe you, do you seriously think they'll let me go overseas with a stranger? Not to mention the fact that my parents are all anti-witch."

Draco pulled himself up off of the roof. Keeping his distance and a wary eye on Sue, he answered with, "Your parents can't change what you are."

"Why is he so afraid of me?" Sue cluelessly asked Deena.

"Sue, you are such an idiot," Deena informed her.

"This is ridiculous. Are we going to hide up here all day?" Draco asked impatiently, eager to get away from Sue.

"You want to go back to class?" Deena inquired skeptically.

"No. I came up here to cut class," Sue objected.

"If we do stay up here and cut class, what're we going to do?" Deena asked Draco.

"What do you want to do?" he responded with a mischievous grin.

"Yuck!" Sue exclaimed. "I'd rather go back to class."

"Then go."

"I'd rather not. Seeing as how you're afraid of me, I'm going to stay and torture you no matter what may go on," Sue replied with an evil grin. "Oh, look at Deena. Deena, you're all red."

Deena had blushed at the mention of "what she wanted to do" and couldn't stop blushing. She covered her face with her hands and managed to mumble, "Sue, shut up."

"Why would you want me to shut up? After all, he is your fantasy lover," Sue blurted out.

"What?" Draco exclaimed.

"Oh my Lord," Deena said, getting up and walking away towards the edge of the roof.

"Where are you going?" Sue asked, completely puzzled.

"I'm going to jump off the roof and end my now thoroughly miserable life, which is only that bad because of you," Deena snapped back.

-

Deena was so embarrassed. _Why does Sue have to be so stupid, the life-sucking witch?_ She kept walking for the edge. She knew if she was going to jump, she'd best do it before she lost her courage. She felt a strong grip on her arm, one that she couldn't have broken free of even if she wanted to.

Naturally, it was Draco. When she turned around to face him, he covered her lips with his. Deena trembled at the feel of his gentleness with her. This wasn't what she would expect from Draco. Perhaps it was the real him, the one that no one knew.

"Why did you stop me?" she whispered when he pulled away. Draco pulled her into his arms and smiled.

"I can't let my paycheck get away," he answered. Angry with his selfish answer, Deena tried to pull away form him, but to no avail. "You think I'm going to let you go?"

"Let go or else!" Deena hissed.

"Or else what?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Deena kicked him in the shin, hard.

"God!" he cursed, letting go of her and grabbing his ankle. "I think you broke it, bi"-

"Don't use profane language on me, Malfoy!" Deena interrupted. "And you shouldn't take the Lord's name in vain."


	4. Chapter 4: Deena's Parents

Chapter 4: Deena's Parents

Deena sat in an easy-chair while her parents and Draco stood on either side of her, arguing at the top of their lungs about Deena. Deena amused herself with trying to guess who would go hoarse first, while they yelled about her like she wasn't even there. Finally, the argument was too much for Deena to handle. She got up and began to leave the room.

"Where are you going, young lady?" her mother said. "Sit down. This is an important discussion."

"It's not a discussion, it's an argument. And if you don't mind, I'm going to the bathroom," Deena answered, leaving the room. She really didn't have to go to the bathroom; it was just an excuse to get away from the noise. She closed the door to the bathroom and busied herself with putting her hair up in a bun.

Unfortunately, the clamour of the quarrel still reached Deena's ears and it was only slightly muffled. This was going to drive her insane! They didn't even bother to ask her opinion. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. The raging argument outside didn't improve her mood. Eventually, Deena's last nerve snapped. She stormed out into the living room.

"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!" she yelled above the argument. They obeyed quickly, shocked by her volume and wrath. "Let's at least discuss this like civilized people. And it wouldn't hurt, like, to ask my opinion."

"There's nothing to discuss. You aren't going," her father said.

"It's not in your religion. After all, witchcraft is devilry, and...." Her mother began the lecture.

Deena became infuriated, exceeding the capacity to hold her rage. She wanted to beat something, slam it with her fist. She just wanted to break something, and...

'CRASH!' The bookcase in the living room fell over. It contained not only books, but also encyclopedias and movies. Her parents were in shock, but Draco quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Calm down, Deena," he instructed her. "If you don't, you could have the whole house caving in on us."

"Huh?" Deena asked, thoroughly puzzled by his words.

"You did that with magic. You got upset and wanted to let out that frustration but couldn't. So your magic decided to let off some steam by knocking over the bookcase. If you'd been trained, that wouldn't have happened," he explained.

"Then...I have to be trained," Deena concluded.

"Absolutely not! There is no such thing as magic and you didn't cause the bookcase to fall over," her mother shrieked.

"Mrs. MacDonald, I don't believe you understand the severity of the situation. If Deena isn't trained, she could kill someone," Draco stated.

"She's not going!"

"She has to!"

They started yelling again. Deena ran for her bedroom, but Draco wasn't going to let her go that easily. He pursued her, and just as she was starting to close her door, he began leaning on it to keep it open. She let go of the door and he fell into her room quite ungracefully. She picked up a shoe and started beating him with it.

"Get out of my room, you perv!" Deena screamed.

"It would help...OW!...if you...#...stopped hitting me," he yelled back.


	5. Chapter 5: Runaway

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 5: Runaway

Deena hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night. Once her parents had finished the Your-Not-Going-and-That's-Final Lecture and the The-Nerve-of-That-Boy Lecture, Deena had spent the night debating what to do. She finally made her decision, and, waiting until everyone was asleep, emptied her school bag and soccer duffel.

The next morning in school, Deena flung her duffel into her locker and hunted Draco down. She didn't bother with exchanging pleasantries; she got right to the point.

"If you get me on a plane to London before midnight tonight, I'll go," she told him.

"What about your parents?" Draco asked.

"They once told me if I ran away overseas, they wouldn't bother chasing me down, it'd have to be my decision to come back. But after this, I don't think they'll want me back at all," Deena said.

Deena kept the fact that she was leaving a secret, and at the end of the day, Mr. Thompson drove her and Draco to the airport, where they got a flight to London. Draco took his seat, fastened his seatbelt, and clutched the armrests until his knuckles were white.

"This is so cool! I've never flown before," Deena said. Then she looked at Draco. "Is it that bad?"

"Let's just say this isn't my preferred way of flying," he answered shakily.

They took off and it wasn't as bad as Deena thought it would be. When they were up in the air, Draco was just as tense, if not more so. Deena pulled out _The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_ and when Draco asked what she was reading, she threw the book at him, hoping it would calm him down if he read.

"Hey Deena!" a hyper voice yelled.

"Please, Lord! Don't let it be who I think it is," Deena sobbed.

Sue ran up and took the empty seat next to Deena. "Hi Deena. Where're we going?" Sue asked cheerily. She looked over at Draco and noticed that he still had his seatbelt fastened. Sue leaned over and unbuckled it.

"What are you doing here? And leave my seatbelt alone," Draco hissed.

"Shut up," Deena commanded. "She won't answer you and if she wants to play with your seatbelt, she will."

"Where're we going?" Sue asked again.

"London, you idiot," Deena informed her. "How did you get on the plane?"

"I hid in the trunk of Mr. Thompson's car and got out at the airport. I had enough money in my savings to buy a ticket and then I walked on the plane with my ticket," Sue explained as if it were obvious.

"What're you going to do in London? You can't go to school with me," Deena said.

"Why not?"

"You are such an idiot. Why don't you go back to your seat?"

"My seat's a ways back there. But this seat is empty, so they let me move up and that way I can talk with you," Sue said. "Also, I was annoying the people back there."

"Lucky me," Deena said sarcastically.

"Aren't you just?" Sue replied cheerily.

"I'll ask you again. What're you going to do in London?" Deena repeated.

"Go to school with you," Sue answered.

"But you can't."

"Why not?"

"You don't have magic, or whatever. You just can't."

"Oh well. I'm coming anyway," Sue said.

"You're going to drive me insane, you know that?" Deena mumbled.

Finally, the plane landed in London and Deena was in the baggage claim, waiting for her duffel.

"Waiting, waiting. Waiting, waiting," Sue sang.

"Would you stop that? That's getting on my nerves," Deena said.

"How can waiting be so annoying to you?" Sue asked.

"I swear, you are such an idiot," Deena remarked.

"Do you know how many times I've heard you say that? It's getting annoying," Draco snapped.

"Oh, boo hoo!" Deena replied sarcastically. "If you didn't want to hear it, you shouldn't have persuaded me to come."

"I persuaded you?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Do me a favor. Shut up," she hissed.

"Then I guess you don't care what we're doing for the night?"

"I would so love to hurt you right now," Deena mumbled as she grabbed her duffel from the conveyor belt. "What're we doing for the night?"

"Sorry, I have to shut up now," he replied.

"Listen up, Malfoy. If you don't tell me what we're doing right now, I will kill you, chop you up into tiny little bits, and send your broken body back to Hogwarts in numerous envelopes."

"Ooh. She threatened her fantasy lover," Sue breathed in shock.

"And if you keep that up, I'll burn you at the stake," Deena informed Sue.

"We'll get a room for the night," Draco told Deena.

"A room. How nice," Deena said. "You're paying for it."

"Oh, and here I was expecting you to pay," he retorted.

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm," she shot back.

"So you can be sarcastic and I can't?"

"I have an excuse."

"What's that?"

"PMS. What's your excuse?"

"Never mind," he mumbled.

"Deena, one. Draco, zero," Sue said, keeping score of who won the most arguments.

-

Draco banged on the door again. When he received no answer other than the sound of the shower running, he mumbled to himself and walked over to the beds. Sue was sprawled on one (watching TV). He sat on the other bed.

"What could possibly take her this long?" he pondered aloud.

"She's not coming out," Sue guessed.

"Why not?"

"She's afraid of what you'll think of her. She's very self-conscious," Sue answered, her eyes never leaving the screen. "You go girl! Kick his arse!" she yelled at the TV.

"Why should she be afraid of me?"

"Go! Kick him!" Sue screamed at the TV, sitting up. "Kick! Oh no! Look out! Knee up! Knee up! Sweet!"

"About time," Draco mumbled when he heard the shower being turned off. "She's been in there for thirty minutes." Unfortunately, he had to wait another twenty minutes before Deena came out. And when she came out, Draco did a double-take.

Her hair, which was washed, combed, and braided, wasn't the reason for his double-take, and neither were her royal blue pajamas. It was the fact that she was wearing glasses, something she hadn't done before. It reminded him of Potter, which repulsed him.

"What are you staring at?" Deena snapped.

"Since when do you wear glasses?" Draco asked.

"Since a long time ago. I wear contacts in the day," she answered.

"HIT HIM! Punch, kick, whatever!...Yes! Go!" Sue yelled, jumping off the bed and positioning herself in front of the TV, less than an inch away from the screen.

"What are you watching?" Deena asked.

"I dunno," Sue answered, sitting down on the bed again.

"Is it any good?"

"Yeah. The blonde girl keeps kicking ass," Sue said. "He's lying! Punch him!"

"Ooh, this does look good," Deena said, sitting on the same bed as Draco. In a few minutes, she was completely caught up in the show. "HIT HIM!" she yelled, grabbing Draco by the throat and punching his arm, her eyes still glued to the TV. "HIT HIM, KILL HIM!"

"That was a wussy punch! Hit him harder!" Sue commanded the girl on TV.

"Sweet!" Deena and Sue yelled when the guy was bleeding to death on the ground.

"Can you...let go...now?" Draco gasped.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Deena apologized, quickly letting go of him.

"You know Deena likes it rough," Sue teased.

"Shut up, you pervert," Deena shrieked.

Draco decided to leave them to their inevitable argument and take a shower.

-

Deena grabbed one of the room keys Draco had left on the table and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sue asked.

"To the lobby. There's a candy machine down there," Deena answered huffily. After arguing with Sue for ten minutes, she wasn't in a good mood.

"Can you get me some?"

"You idiot! We just argued for ten minutes, and now you're asking me to get you some candy? You must've been dropped on your head when you were little. Something's seriously wrong in your head!"

"Can you get me some?" Sue repeated after a short pause.

"Aagghh," Deena yelled as she left the room. It didn't take long to get some candy from the lobby, and Deena also found a soda machine and got herself some soda. She went back to the room and sat down at the table with her snack.

"Where's mine?" Sue asked curiously.

"You want some? Go get it yourself," Deena retorted.

So Sue grabbed a room key and left for the lobby. Deena sat at the table, munching on her own candy and mumbling about how much she hated Sue. Somehow, she ended up knocking over her soda. She picked it up quickly, but some soda had spilled regardless of her fast reflexes. Needing a towel to wipe up the mess, Deena hurried to the bathroom and flung open the door.

Draco was standing in front of the mirror, with a towel around his waist and combing his silver-blonde hair. Deena stopped dead in her tracks and just stared. He was muscular, but not too muscular. Deena couldn't do anything but stare. If he was surprised at her busting in, he didn't show it.

"Did you want something?" he said.

"Towel," she whispered meekly, blushing and turning her eyes to the floor.

"Go ahead and get one," he said.

"Okay," she answered quietly. She came in and headed for the towels. Unfortunately for Deena, she found a slippery spot on the floor. Her feet flew out from under her and she let out a small scream as she fell to the floor.

Draco whirled around and caught her before she hit the floor. They ended up with their faces maybe an inch apart. They stared into each other's eyes just for a moment.

"Get a room," Sue said from the doorway, having returned from the lobby.

"Sue, we did get a room," Deena said. "I mean, where do you think we are?"

-

Note: The line "I would so love to hurt you right now" comes from Miss Congeniality.


	6. Chapter 6: Vault 1025

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 6: Vault 1025

Deena took another look in the mirror and began rethinking her outfit. Maybe the problem with it was the lethally short, tight black skirt. Or possibly the black knee-high boots. But at least the black spaghetti strap shirt was good. Having brought her clothes into the bathroom with her, she was about to go through her things again when there was a banging on the door.

"Hurry up!" Draco commanded crossly. Deciding not to aggravate him, Deena flung her things into her bags and opened the door. "About time."

"Sorry," Deena apologized. "I just don't know what to wear. The first outfit was too cutsie, the second too mature, and this one...well I kinda think it makes me look too evil. Or maybe trashy."

"You could never look trashy," he snapped, impatient with her.

"Let's think about that. If I pull my skirt up a little, then my butt will hang out, pull my shirt down a little and my boobs will be close to popping out, let one strap down off my shoulder, get my hair dyed pink, get a ton of body piercings, apply pounds and pounds of make up to my face, and I just might manage it," she spat back.

"Let's go," he mumbled.

"Deena, two. Draco, zero," Sue tallied.

On Diagon Alley, it occurred to Deena that she hadn't received a list of supplies for school. She mentioned it to Draco, who produced one and she snatched it from him. "How am I going to pay for all this?" she whined while Draco threatened Sue with a Memory charm. "I don't have any money."

As she said this, they were walking up the steps of Gringotts. They entered and approached one of the goblins who wasn't busy. "May I help you?" he asked, peering down over his desk at them. Draco produced a letter and the goblin certainly took his own sweet time to read it. "That account hasn't been touched for years," he mumbled, still reading. "I'll need proof." He folded up the letter and stared intently in Deena's eyes, as if searching for something. "Yes," he muttered after a few moments. "Grindel!" he called.

A second goblin (obviously Grindel) ran up and the first whispered something in Grindel's ear. Then Grindel bade them to follow him to the vaults. They then began the cart ride. They were going incredibly fast when Sue shouted:

"FASTER! WHOO-HOO. THIS IS SO COOL! Deena, put your hands up in the air." They came to a stop at Vault 1025. "Aww. That was really fun," Sue said disappointedly. Then she brightened up. "Can you go faster on the way back?"

"One speed only," Grindel said, edging away from Sue. He went up to Vault 1025 and, rather then use a key, began tracing multiple complicated symbols on the door. After doing so for about ten minutes, he finished with a snake symbol. The snake slithered through each symbol and ended at one side halfway down before turning into a brass handle.

Grindel opened the door and Deena gasped in shock. Stacks of gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts filled the room. Due to all the money, the size of the room was indeterminable.

"Draco...is all that yours?" she asked.

"No, Deena, it's yours," he answered.

"All...all..."she stammered as the floor rushed up to meet her. When she opened her eyes, Sue was hovering above her. "Oh, Sue, I had the weirdest dream. Draco came and told me I had to go to Hogwarts, so we went to London and I had a huge fortune in Gringotts." Deena sat up and saw the vault open in front of her. "OH MY LORD!" she screamed, jumping up. "I'm rich."

Knowing she'd need something to put money in, Deena emptied the contents of her purse and shoved all the pens, pencils, cosmetics, and wallet into her duffel. She filled her purse with coins, which made it much heavier. They took the cart back up to Gringotts, Sue squealing with delight all the way.

"So, what're we buying first?" Deena asked Draco out on the steps in front of Gringotts.

"I suppose we'll go to Madame Malkin's and get your robes first," he told her.

They proceeded to procure her robes, books, cauldron, supplies, and various other things.

"What's next?" Deena asked Draco, doing her best to stagger along under her load of purchases, which Draco had refused to carry with the phrase "What do I look like, a house elf?"

"Ice cream!" Sue exclaimed hopefully.

"You still need a pet, a broom, and a wand," he said scanning down the list. They went to the nearest pet shop. It was dimly lit and full of owls, cats, rats, and toads.

Deena was a bit sad at the selection. She hated rats and toads, wasn't overly fond of owls, and even though she loved cats, cats hated her. She plunged deep into the darkest corner of the store. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a small selection of snakes. Snakes fascinated her. Snakes were the last option she had, so she knew she had to choose carefully. She reached into one snake's container and gently stroked it's back.

"Have you decided yet?" It was Draco. She jumped a mile. Of course, Deena didn't want to admit that he scared her, so she answered as calmly as she could.

"Yeah, I want this one," she said, pulling out the one she had stroked.

"Do you know what it is?"

"Uh, a snake," she answered condescendingly.

"What type?" Deena didn't know enough about snakes to tell what type of snake it was. "It's a baby anaconda," he informed her. "Do you know how big it could get?"

"Thirty feet long," she answered, happy to know something. "So? I'm getting this one. You can't stop me."

"I'm sure you'll give this little guy a good home," the salesclerk at the counter said.

"It's a male, huh? I guess I'll name him...Mephistopheles," Deena said.

"But that's such a big name for that little snake," Sue protested.

"He'll grow into it," Deena responded, handing over the money and draping the snake over her shoulders. "Right, Mephisto?" she asked her snake. For a second, she could have sworn she heard it hiss a distinct "yes". But she figured it was just her imagination, most likely caused by hunger, work (from all the lugging of purchases from one shop to another), and the shock that this whole thing wasn't a dream.

"We're getting some food next, right?" Sue practically begged.

"No. We're going to Ollivander's for a wand," Draco informed her.

"Then we'll get something to eat?"

"No, then we'll go get her broom."

"And then?"

"Then, we'll get something to eat."

"YAY!" Sue screamed in Draco's ear. "Can we get some miso soup?"

"I don't know if they have it here, but we'll try Sue," Deena said as they walked into Ollivander's. Because Deena had turned her head to talk to Sue, she couldn't see where she was going and ran into the person in front of her. Fortunately, she didn't drop anything.

"Sorry 'bout that," the large man (which she recognized to be Hagrid) apologized.

"It's not your fault, Hagrid. I should've been paying attention to where I was going," she said. Unnoticed, Mr. Ollivander waited at the counter for Deena.

"How'd you know my name?" he asked with a smile.

"Magic," she joked. "I'm Deena. Deena MacDonald."

"Can I help you, miss?" Mr. Ollivander asked, clearing his throat to get her attention.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, Mr. Ollivander," Deena apologized quickly. "Standing here yakking, when I should be..." she mumbled, trailing off.

Sue began dancing around the shop, singing about how hungry she was as Deena began trying wands. An hour later, Sue was still dancing and singing and Deena was still trying wands.

"I'm hungry. I'm hungry, I'm hungry," Sue sang.

"Sue, you're going to hurt someone if you keep doing that," Deena warned, trying another wand (which wasn't the one for her).

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked Hagrid scathingly.

"Official Hogwarts business," Hagrid replied.

"Well then it probably isn't too important. I mean"-

Draco was interrupted by Sue crashing into him, knocking him to the floor. She fell on top of him. "Oops," Sue giggled, getting back up. She promptly returned to her dancing and singing as if nothing had happened.

"Perhaps"...Mr. Ollivander mused, hurrying into the back room. He returned with another wand. "Eleven and a half inch cedar with a phoenix feather core." Deena gave it a wave and silver sparks shot out of it. "Perfect!"

They purchased the wand and left the shop, never discovering why Hagrid had been there. "Now we can get some miso soup," Sue said happily.

"No," Draco contradicted. "Broom first."

"But...I'm really hungry," Sue whined.

"I'll make it fast," Deena promised. When they got into the broom shop, Deena went straight to the clerk. "What's the best broom you have?"

"That'd be the Lightning. It came out just yesterday. Only two have been manufactured so far," the clerk said. "Why don't you take a look?" the clerk suggested, pulling it out from under the counter.

Deena didn't know much about brooms, but Draco seemed quite impressed with it. Sue couldn't care less. She was looking at all the brooms and humming the song she'd been singing about being hungry. Deena turned her attention away from Sue and asked the clerk the price. She winced a bit when she heard the high price, but figured it was well worth every Galleon. Fortunately, she had enough left to purchase it. After doing so, she turned her attention back to Sue.

Sue had just mounted a broom. The broom went haywire, shooting out the door and into the sky. Deena and Draco ran out into the street and watched as the broom did loop-the-loops and death-defying stunts with Sue screaming for joy the whole time. The broom descended until it was barely skimming the rooftops. Finally, it managed to get rid of its passenger.

Sue crashed through the roof of a shop and the broom returned to the broom shop unharmed. Deena and Draco headed for the shop Sue had fallen into.

"I hope she's okay," Deena said with concern.

"If she died, it's no great loss to humanity," Draco said carelessly.

Deena whirled around and punched him in the face. "How dare you! That's my friend you're talking about!" She turned and hurried on, not giving Draco a chance to respond. When she got to the shop, she saw a hole in the ceiling and Sue sitting a table, eating. It was a restaurant she had fallen into.

"Deena, 'ey 'ave miso soup," Sue said through a mouth full of soup. Deena had to laugh. Even after falling through a roof, Sue was fine and just the same. Deena got some soup for herself and asked for Sake.

Draco walked in and found the two of them sitting at a table, eating, drinking, and talking.

"...then I turned and punched him in the face," Deena said.

"Did it hurt?" Sue asked before taking a swig of Sake. "Probably not. You're too weak."

"Thanks a lot, Sue," Deena replied sarcastically. "You jerk."

Everything was back to normal.

-

Standing on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Deena was about to get on the train with Draco. (The Hogwarts Express was running just for them.) Suddenly, someone tugged her back to keep her from boarding. She turned her head and saw Sue holding onto her shirt.

"Sue, let go," Deena commanded.

"Even though we're not related by blood, you and I are sisters," Sue said. "And you can't leave a sister behind. We're family. Where you go, I go!"

"So you aren't going to let go?"

"Not for all the miso soup in the world."

"Alright. Get on the train," Deena said. "Draco's gonna kill me."

"Yay! I'm going with Deena," Sue yelled, hugging Deena. Then she jumped on the train.

"Sue...just...hugged me," Deena said in shock.

"Deena, hurry up or we'll leave without you," Sue shouted out the window.

"Deena! Get her off this train! Now!" Draco yelled.

"Someone sounds cranky. I think he could use a happy song," Sue giggled.

In an attempt to spare Draco one of Sue's Happy Songs, Deena quickly boarded the train and hurried to the compartment. "Sue, let's go sing the Happy Song in the next compartment so Draco can...cool off. And read. Cuz he's reading _The Fellowship of the Ring_, aren't you Draco?"

"Yes, I was...am. I am," he agreed, pulling out the book.

Deena and Sue went to the next compartment, taking some of Deena's things with them.

"Were you trying to get rid of me?" Sue asked.

"No, I was trying to get rid of Draco," Deena said. "I'm so freaked out by all this. I'm going to a new school. I won't know anyone and I won't know anything. I don't even know how to do a simple spell. I'm going to look like an idiot."

"You'll know someone. Me. And you'll learn all that stuff. Don't worry about it," Sue advised.

"You don't get it. I hate looking stupid," Deena sighed. "I know I'm not stupid, so I hate it when people think I am."

"Who cares about them? Just be Deena. Now let's see you try on those robes. Go on," Sue urged.

Deena shook her head with a smile and pulled out her robes.


	7. Chapter 7: A Puzzlement

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 7: A Puzzlement

Deena walked through the doors of Hogwarts. The inside was even more impressive than the outside. She was staring at the interior in awe when something collided with the back of her head. She found a book on the floor behind her, and Peeves was floating around the ceiling, laughing hysterically.

"Peeves," Deena said quietly. He was forced to stop his laughing so that he could listen to her.

"How do you know Peeves' name?" he asked her.

"If I am correct, you're a type of ghost," Deena continued.

"How do you know Peeves' name?" he demanded furiously.

"If you ever throw anything at me, drop anything on me, or perform any other form of trickery and jokes on me, I'll do at least one of the following: rebury your corpse, stake your corpse or grave, or pray to God to smite you," Deena threatened.

"You...you wouldn't dare. You wouldn't dare get rid of Peeves," Peeves gasped.

"Try me," she answered in a voice that clearly stated that she was not to be trifled with.

"Peeves will tell Dumbledore on you," Peeves screamed, floating up through the ceiling.

"How do you know to get rid of a poltergeist?" Draco asked curiously.

"I read it in the encyclopedia. It wasn't for a report, it was just for fun," Deena added.

"What're we going to do now?" Sue asked.

"We'll go see Dumbledore, of course," Draco replied, leading them in the right direction.

Deena followed, nervous. What if Peeves told on her? Would she be expelled before she even participated in a single class? She fiddled with her wand as they walked through twisting and turning corridors. It was a nice wand; she didn't want it broken. She could hide it and lie, saying she forgot to buy one, but she was an awful liar. They reached Dumbledore's office and went in. Draco flopped down into a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk, almost as though he owned the place.

"How nice to see you back so soon, Malfoy," Dumbledore greeted him with a smile.

"I got what you wanted," Draco drawled carelessly, motioning to Deena.

Deena turned to look at Sue and what she discovered scared her. Sue was dancing around the room, going through things, and was less than a centimeter away from breaking a few glass ornaments. "Sue!" Deena reprimanded. "Get away from that. You're gonna break something!"

"Deena, nice to meet you," Dumbledore said, getting up and coming around his desk. "Who is this...energetic friend of yours?" Dumbledore inquired, shaking Deena's hand.

"I'm Sue," Sue introduced herself. "Deena's sister and best friend."

"Worst nightmare is more like it," Deena muttered. "We're not sisters by blood, but we're like sisters, so we say we are," Deena explained.

"Where's the kitchen?" Sue asked. After being given directions from Dumbledore, Sue took off.

"Malfoy, you may return to class. Deena and I have a few things to discuss," Dumbledore said.

When Draco was gone, Deena got ready to apologize for threatening Peeves. "Professor Dumbledore, sir, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to threaten Peeves, it's just that"-

"Threaten Peeves? You did? Well, it's about time someone did it," Dumbledore replied.

"Am I...not in trouble for that?"

"Not at all."

"Then what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I've arranged a tutor to help you catch up, and I thought perhaps you'd like to make a schedule for classes. Also, you do need to be sorted. Now, what electives would you like?"

"Well...Divinations and Arithmancy for sure. What else have you got?"

-

"Where were you all this time, Draco?" Pansy inquired crossly. "You just left, and didn't tell anyone."

It was dinner time in the Great Hall, and Draco felt like eating, not answering Pansy's stupid questions. He was also busy scanning the other tables for Deena. He wanted to know what House she was in. Draco was buttering a slice of bread (and not looking at it; he was busy with examining the occupants of tables) when Pansy tapped him on the shoulder. He slid the knife down too far and cut his hand.

"Oh, Draco honey, you cut yourself," Pansy exclaimed.

"Only because of your stupid jabbering. How do you expect me to concentrate with your nasal voice whining in my ear?" he snapped at her.

"Fine. I'll leave you and your bread alone," Pansy retorted nastily, scooting away from him on the bench.

A small group of Hufflepuffs came in the doors, just a tad late to dinner. One broke away from them and headed for the Slytherin table. Draco recognized it to be Deena. She seemed happy when she saw him and sat in the empty space between him and Pansy (which seemed to upset Pansy).

"Hi Draco," Deena said.

"Hey Deena," he answered. "So, you're in Slytherin?"

"Yeah. I'm kinda relieved about it. I was afraid I'd be put in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. I don't know anyone in those Houses," she said. She looked at the floor, then back up. "You cut yourself," she observed. She picked up her napkin with one hand and took his cut hand in her other. She pressed her napkin to his cut, keeping pressure on it.

"Ow," he whined. "That hurts."

"No it doesn't. Anyway, applying pressure stops the bleeding," she replied.

"So, why was it so important for you to come here?" Draco asked to make conversation.

"Actually, Dumbledore wouldn't tell me. I asked him, but he said it wasn't necessary for me to know right now. He said things would be hard enough for me as it is, what with catching up and all."

"Oh. What happened to Sue?"

"She's cooking in the kitchen. She's gonna work down there. Dumbledore's even paying her. With my luck, she'll pop up randomly everywhere I go," Deena said. "She calls it "poofing", I call it a curse."

It was silent for a bit. Deena picked at her food rather than eat it. She was also staring off into space. Finally, she tossed her fork down.

"What could it possibly be? I wish he'd just tell me. I'm going to go insane not knowing," she hissed. Draco figured she was talking about Dumbledore not telling her why she'd been brought to Hogwarts. He decided she looked cute when she was angry.


	8. Chapter 8: First Meeting

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 8: First Meeting

Harry was running through the halls at breakneck speed. Ron had left him at the House table, muttering about the fact that Cho wasn't at Hogwarts (she'd graduated last year) and how much he missed her. Harry turned a corner—and abruptly ran into someone. He lost his glasses and his bag. He got down on his knees to search for both items.

"I'm so sorry," the other person said. It was a girl; he could tell by the voice. She was probably a couple years below him. "You don't see my glasses, do you?"

"Actually I'm looking for my own," he replied with a smile, forgetting he was going to be late to Divinations.

"I found a pair," they both said simultaneously. Harry shoved the pair he'd found on his nose at the same time the girl did. Both pair of glasses had the same prescription, but it was quite obvious that they had each other's frames. So they switched glasses.

The girl mustn't have had a bag; her books were scattered on the floor. "Let me help," Harry said, picking up books.

"Thanks Harry," she replied. It wasn't a surprise that she knew his name. After all, everyone had heard of him. "My name's Deena," she introduced herself.

Harry figured she was probably a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw due to the fact that she was so sweet. And for one of the first times he could remember, his new acquaintance wasn't gawking at his scar. She hadn't even glanced at it. As he handed over her books, he caught a glimpse of her House badge.

Even though he'd only caught a glance, he knew it was Slytherin. _How could someone this sweet be Slytherin?_ Maybe it was one of Malfoy's sick jokes.

"What Year are you?" he found himself asking.

"Seventh. Don't worry, you shouldn't know me. This is my first year. I'm supposed to have a tutor to help me catch up," Deena replied. "Um...do you think you could help me find Divinations? I'm terribly lost."

"It's back that way. You've passed it," Harry told her. Then he realized something. "Oh no, we're late." He grabbed his bag off the floor and began running again, Deena on his heels. They go to the classroom and Deena quietly shut the door behind them. There was a girl sitting next to Ron (who was blushing profusely), so Harry was forced to take the empty table, which he would have to share with Deena.

"You're late," Professor Trelawney remarked, "as I had seen you would be."

"It's all my fault," Deena said, sitting down next to Harry. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I ran into Harry, my books and glasses went flying, it was a huge mess, but Harry helped me pick it up, which made him late, otherwise he'd have been here on time. I'm really sorry Professor."

Moments later, Professor Trelawney was teaching something Harry would never remember because he was falling asleep. It was always unusually hot in this classroom, even in the middle of winter. It was due to the fact that Professor Trelawney had an enormous fire roaring at all times. He looked over at Deena. Her eyes were barely open a slit. Suddenly, those blue eyes closed and she fell over towards him. She ended up with her head resting on his shoulder, her body leaning against his for support. Her blonde hair spilled across his back, a soft, gentle, almost tickling sensation. Her glasses had slid down her nose and were close to falling off. Harry didn't want to move and wake her up; Deena would think he was a jerk. He didn't mind anyway. He actually liked it.

The minutes ticked away without him realizing it and class ended much too soon. "Deena," he whispered. "Class is over." She awoke with a yawn and slowly sat back up. She gathered her things and got to her feet.

"Who are you?" Ron inquired, examining Deena up and down.

"Deena MacDonald. You must be Ron Weasley," she answered with a smile.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked, his jaw dropping.

"That's sad and pathetic. You two don't know?" Deena asked skeptically.

"Know what?" Harry responded.

"You know, the J. K. Rowling books? They're all about you," Deena told them. They stared at her in shock. "You're going to be late for your next class if you keep staring at me like that."

"Free time," Ron replied. "No class."

"Good. Then you can take me to the library to meet my tutor," she replied.

-

"...and this one...this one too," Hermione rambled, pulling books off the library shelves and adding them to a stack on the table.

"Hermione? I need to be able to walk," Deena reminded her, looking at the tower of books Hermione said she should start with. It turned out that Hermoine was Deena's tutor and Hermoine wasn't as shocked about the J. K. Rowling books as the boys had been. Harry and Ron had yet to say a word since Deena had summarized six books in five minutes where all of the events in the book had actually happened to Harry and Ron. They had managed a few sounds, but other than that...

"...this one is a must..."

"Hermione! At this rate, I'll be reading for the next twenty years. That's enough for now," Deena said, putting her foot down.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away," Hermione apologized, grabbing two more books and adding them to the pile. "We really can't do much more until you read those, so I guess we're done for today."

"How long's it gonna take me to get through these?" Deena asked.

"Um...about...two days," Hermione said.

"Or not!" Deena contradicted, loading al the books into her arms. The pile of books hid her eyes and she couldn't see well when she left the library.

'CRASH!' Deena ran right into someone. Her books went flying.

"Deena!" Sue yelled, emerging from the pile of books unharmed. "Sorry about running into you. I thought it was a pile of books in the doorway to keep me out. I didn't recognize you!"

"Sue, don't tell me you've already been banned from the library," Deena said, picking up the books.

"Yup. They banned me an hour ago. That's why I thought you were"-

"A pile of books in the doorway to keep you out. I know, I know."

"I haven't seen you since yesterday. Did you miss me?" Sue asked.

"Every waking moment," Deena sarcastically replied. They chatted all the way to Slytherin House. Right in front of the portrait, Deena tried to get rid of Sue. 'CRASH!' someone had opened the portrait from inside and managed to hit Deena with it. Her books went flying once again, she was knocked to the floor, and her glasses were knocked askew. "That's the third time in one day!" she yelled, fixing her glasses and propping herself up on her elbows.

"Third time's a charm," the perpetrator drawled. Deena looked up to see Draco standing over her.

"I should've known," Deena mumbled. "You'd be the only one stupid enough to open a door without looking to see if anyone's in the way first!"

"Someone obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed," Draco remarked coolly.

"Forgive me for getting up on the right. Tomorrow, I'll get up on the left!" Deena snapped back.

"Are you upset?"

"What do you think?" Deena asked.

"I think you're upset," Draco remarked.

"What a smart little boy you are," Deena said, sarcastically sweet, picking up her books.

"Why would you be standing in front of the portrait anyway?" Draco snidely replied.

"Maybe I was going to walk through it!"

"If you were going to walk through it, you'd've been able to step back out of the way."

"Do you see all these books on the floor? Did it occur to you that I was carrying them?" Deena snapped, standing up with the load of books. "I was trying to get rid of Sue, if you don't mind."

"Sue's not here."

"What do you mean, she's not here?" Deena asked incredulously, peering around the books. She caught a glimpse of the Slytherin common room. Her eyes widened in terror and she almost lost her grip on the books. "SUE! STOP JUMPING ON THE COUCH! AND PUT THAT DOWN!"


	9. Chapter 9: Soccer

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 9: Soccer

Deena snuck through the front doors out onto the lawn of Hogwarts. Mephisto was draped around her neck, her Lightning was in her left hand, and a soccer ball was in her right. She had been waiting outside the Slytherin common room for fifteen minutes for her flying tutor to show up, but he or she hadn't, so Deena grabbed her soccer ball and Mephisto from her room and decided to play a little soccer on the Quidditch pitch, taking her broom should her tutor come looking for her.

Deena had been on her school's soccer team and had planned to attend college on a soccer scholarship. She'd been told by many coaches and other people that she had an excellent shot at being a professional soccer player. She got to the pitch and took off her robes, revealing her old soccer uniform underneath. Deena and that uniform had seen many games together, most of which she had won for her team. Briefly, she wondered what the team was like without her.

Not wanting her thoughts to dwell on her team and how poorly the new recruits were doing, Deena dribbled the ball up and down the Quidditch pitch, using the goal posts as her goals. She slammed her ball between the posts repeatedly, forgetting the world. For just that half hour, she was the only person in the world. Just her and that soccer ball. She never noticed someone watching her, never noticed his stare.

She only realized someone was watching her when applause rang out after she made one of her more spectacular goals. She scanned the stands until she found him. His cold, gray eyes seemed to sparkle with interest as he stared at her. Deena made her way up into the stands, but could think of nothing to say to him when she sat down next to him. She needn't've worried.

"How would you like to do that in the air?" Draco asked her.

"Do what? Soccer? Soccer and Quidditch are hardly similar," Deena answered, assuming he was asking her if she wanted to play Quidditch.

"Try."

"I don't know how to fly," she confessed, feeling rather stupid. "My tutor didn't show up."

"Yes, they did. I'm your tutor, I'm here now, and I'll teach you to play Quidditch at the same time."

"Shouldn't I learn the basics of flying first?"

"If we take time to go through all that, you'll be so far behind"...

-

Slytherin needed a new Chaser (their best had graduated last year) and Deena was perfect for it. As he taught her the rules and made her practice scoring, her skill became more and more obvious. Draco knew she was what the team needed this year. There had never been a girl on the Slytherin team though. Then again, the Slytherin girls were too good to get all "sweaty and disgusting", as Pansy liked to put it. Deena quite plainly care about getting sweaty.

Draco had been appointed the team captain by last year's captain, so he could put her on the team. The guys would hate it, and so would Snape. But if it helped them beat Gryffindor...

"Deena," he called to get her attention. When he was certain he had it, he continued. "How would you like to be on the House team?"

"I thought girls weren't allowed on the team," she answered. "What would Snape say?"

"Look, I'm the captain. It's my team and what I say goes. So yes or no?"

"Alright. I'll join."

Just then, the Gryffindor team trooped onto the field. _Great. Just what I needed. That snotty Potter getting on my case for being on the pitch during his team's practice time. At least I can't get in trouble like I did last time. This time I've got an excuse._ He signaled Deena to land and the two of them approached the seven Gryffindors.

"Clear off. We've got the pitch scheduled," Potter said with an annoyed tone. "Unless you'd rather get in trouble again."

"I can't be punished for what Dumbledore asked me to do," Draco replied, showing Potter the signed note from Dumbledore giving him permission to be here teaching Deena. Then he noticed Ginny Weasley staring at Deena's broom. "Like that broom, Weasley? It's a shame that your family can't even afford one splinter of it. It's the Lightning, brand new. It came out two days ago." He turned his eyes on Potter. "It easily outclasses the Firebolt. My father mentioned buying me one. In fact, I'll probably see mine in the mail any day now."

"Malfoy"- Potter began, but never finished. Weasley had interrupted with an ear piercing scream.

"A SNAKE!" she screeched, pointing at the ground.

"It's just Mephisto," Deena said, picking up her snake and draping it over her shoulders.

"It's disgusting," Weasley stated, hiding behind Potter. "It could've bit me."

"He can't kill you with a bite. He's not poisonous. Mephisto's an anaconda," Deena said calmly. "Anacondas are a type of constrictor, so in other words, it squeezes it's prey to death. Mephisto's not big enough to kill a person."

"Just keep it away from me," Weasley said.

"It's just a snake."

"Look Deena, Ginny's obviously terrified of it," Potter said. "Could you knock it off?"

"Fine," Deena said in a huff. "I've got books to read anyway." With that, she stalked off the pitch back towards Hogwarts. Draco couldn't help but smirk as he followed her, knowing she'd help them kick Gryffindor's sorry ass.


	10. Chapter 10: A Late Night in Gryffindor

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 10: A Late Night in Gryffindor

"Deena's making great progress, don't you think?" Hermione remarked while taking a break from her work. She'd been tutoring Deena for a month and a half now, and Deena was caught up completely in Charms, Arithmancy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and almost caught up in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. (Of course, there was no worry about how she was doing in that despicable class of Divinations; Hermione had convinced her that she had missed absolutely nothing.)

"I guess," Ron said, already tuning out. He never listened when she went on and on about the Slytherin girl. He didn't know why Harry and Hermione were so buddy-buddy with the girl. Harry hadn't responded to Hermione's comment and his quill seemed to have gotten away from him. "What're you doing Harry?" Ron inquired, leaning over to have a look.

"Nothing," Harry lied, pulling his Divinations homework over the previous scroll. "Just my Divinations." (Harry was taking that class only because it would be helpful in becoming an Auror, even though it wasn't necessary.)

"Oh, really?" Hermione said skeptically to get Harry's attention. It worked and provided Ron with the opportunity to steal Harry's scrolls, which Ron took. He tossed the Divinations work aside to reveal the scroll Harry was hiding.

"Give it back," Harry was saying, turning red. Hermione scooted over to see the scroll. Both Ron and Hermione seemed at a loss for words. Finally, Ron found his voice.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled.

"Harry, that's good," Hermione whispered. "I didn't know you could draw like that."

"Neither did I," Harry replied. "Can I have it back now?"

"Are you obsessed with Deena?" Ron inquired.

"You really captured her. Especially her eyes," Hermione said, looking at the picture.

"I just drew it," Harry told his friends, unable to explain why. It was his assumption that Ron hadn't noticed how often Harry stared at Deena in the classes they had together. "Now can I have it back?"

After having his things returned to him, Harry decided to call it a night. The second his head hit the pillow, Harry was asleep. He had a few unmemorable, pleasant dreams before the nightmare came.

_Where am I? I don't recognize this place at all. And who's that? Wait, I can see him more clearly now...Voldemort! Crap, I'm in trouble. Where's my wand? Oh God, I can't find it! What's he saying? What type of spell is that??_ In the dream, Harry was hit with a blast that flung him back about twenty feet. He found himself falling down some hole. He grabbed at the edge with both hands and managed to catch himself. Someone grabbed his hands. Malfoy leaned over the edge, smirking at him.

"_See you in hell, Potter_," he said, trying to throw Harry off the edge into the dark chasm. Harry stared at Malfoy in horror. _Does he really hate me that much? Yeah, he does_. But as Harry stared, it turned into Deena, hanging onto him, desperately struggling to pull him up. Her hair was falling out of a gorgeous up-do, and dirt was smudged on her face.

"_Don't let go_," Harry pleaded to her.

"_I won't, and that's a promise_," Deena replied.

"Harry, wake up! Harry!" a voice broke into the dream. Harry's eyes shot open and he sat up, staring at the pale fuzziness around him. Ron was standing beside him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"You must've been having a really bad dream," Seamus said.

"Yeah, you were thrashing around," Dean added.

"It was nothing," Harry lied. The guys believed him because they turned off the lights and went back to bed. Harry waited till they were asleep, then put on his glasses, his shoes, his robes, and his Invisibility Cloak. He wanted to be alone and he could only be sure of being alone if he snuck outside.

When he got outside, Harry kept the cloak on and went down to the lakeshore. He saw a figure and quietly made his way toward it. He heard the voice before he saw the person, and she was singing:

_Somebody's somebody. Someone's someone._

_Some sweet lover's lover, I wanna be that one._

_Someone faithful to someone faithful, someone kind to someone kind to me._

_Somebody to somebody who loves me ._

He saw her then. It was Deena. He took off his cloak and forgot to be quiet. Taking a step toward her, he stepped on something that made noise, which caused Deena to look up and stop singing.

"Hello?" she asked quietly.

"Hi Deena," Harry answered back just as quietly.

"Oh, hi Harry. What're you doing out here? Can't sleep?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"I'm a night owl," she replied. He noticed her holding a sketch pad. He could make out a crescent moon and its reflection in the water. "Sue's a night owl too."

"Sue? I don't see Sue any"- he began.

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping out of the tree above him and Deena, tackling Harry to the ground.

"SUE! GET OFF HIM!" Deena yelled, running over to his aid. Sue got off and Deena helped him to his feet. "Are your glasses okay? Good. Sue! Honestly!"

"You said to protect you," Sue defended herself.

"From Draco," Deena reminded her.

"You did?"

"Yes, Sue, I said to protect me from Draco," Deena patiently continued. "Now, climb back up in the tree and watch for him, alright?"

"Yep!" Sue said, swinging up into the tree.

"Why do you need protection from Malfoy?" Harry asked curiously, afraid of her answer.

"He keeps hitting on me. I just need a break from it. I enjoy it, but that's only because he's the first guy who's ever shown any interest in me," Deena confided. "I don't know why, but I feel like I can tell you anything, like we're really close. I'm sorry. That's gotta sound crazy."

"No, no, I think I get it. I feel the same," he admitted. "I can tell you anything too." _Except how I feel about you_. "That's a pretty drawing."

"Thanks. I mostly do moon sketches like this. There's so many possibilities in drawing the moon because it changes so often. I add in scenery and color it later."

"You know, Malfoy's not the only one who likes you," he said, trying to be casual.

"Oh yeah? Who else would like me?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure guys from your last school were lined up for you," Harry replied.

"Not even one," Deena admitted reluctantly. "I'm just not pretty."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is."

"Would Malfoy hand around you if you were ugly?"

"I guess not. Point taken," Deena said.

They sat in a pleasant silence for a few more minutes, just the two of them on the lakeshore in the moonlight. "We should probably go back in. It's almost one o'clock," Harry remarked, looking at his watch.

"Guess you're right," Deena said, standing up. "Wait. What're all these bottles doing here?"

Harry stood up and saw about four empty bottles by the tree trunk. He'd sat a little farther back than Deena and as she stepped forward to examine the bottles, she tripped on a bottle. He caught her in his arms and held her tightly to him.

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping out of the tree and tackling them both to the ground, Deena underneath Harry. "EVIL MALFOY! LEAVE DEENA ALONE!" Sue yelled, raising another empty bottle over her head, sitting on Harry's back. She was aiming for the back of Harry's head.

"SUE, IT'S"- Deena began.

'**CRASH!**' Sue brought the bottle down violently on Harry's head and he slipped into dark unconsciousness.

-

"Sue, what were you thinking? It was Harry and you bashed him in the head," Deena scolded. "Wham! He never knew what hit him, the poor guy. You're a retard."

"I thought it was Malfoy," Sue defended herself. She reached up into the tree and pulled down another bottle while Deena wiggled out from under the unconscious Harry.

"Oh yeah, I can see the similarities," Deena replied sarcastically. "You've already had six bottles of that stuff." Deena grabbed the bottle from Sue. "Sake? No wonder you couldn't tell it was Harry. You're trashed."

"Just a bit," Sue giggled.

"How're we gonna get him back to Gryffindor?" Deena pondered aloud.

"You take his arms, I'll get his feet, and we'll carry him," Sue said.

So Deena picked up her sketchbook and his Invisibility Cloak and tucked them into her robes, then got Harry by the arms and helped Sue carry him to Gryffindor. Sue gave the portrait the password, which she only knew because the house elves in the kitchen had asked her to keep Gryffindor's common room fire going at night. Sue went for some ice and Deena dragged Harry to his room by herself.

She got him into his bed without waking the others and was quite pleased with herself for that. She removed his shoes and robes (he had his pajamas on underneath). Deena pulled the covers up over him, then pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, folded it up, and placed it on his school trunk. She removed his glasses and put them on the table by his bed. Sue came in with the ice, and they put it on his head where the lump was forming.

Deena was about to leave when she thought of something. She got out her sketchbook and found one of her sketches. It was good, but something about the scene really bothered her. It was a house with the lights on. She had colored this one with color pencils and the moon was a pale yellow in the dark blue sky. There were trees around the house, and Deena had the eerie feeling that there was a figure in the shadows she couldn't see. Thinking Harry might like one of her sketches and she had no problem parting with this particular one, she pulled it out of the book and put it on his bedside table.

Someone sat up in their bed, clicked on the light, and said, "What are you doing here?" The light momentarily blinded her. The person grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm up into an uncomfortable position that wouldn't allow her to move without irritating her arm. "What did you do to Harry?"

"Ron?" she said, recognizing the voice as her eyes adjusted to the light.

"I think Snape and McGonagall should be informed that a student's out of bed and snuck into another House," Ron threatened viciously.

"Please don't get me in trouble," Deena pleaded. "Sue knocked him unconscious and I felt bad, so I brought him back to Gryffindor. Sue gave the password, I don't even know it. If you take me to the professors, I'll have to tell them the whole story, and Harry'll get in trouble cuz he was out of bed too."

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping off the top of Ron's four-poster bed. She knocked Ron and Deena to the floor. Unfortunately, this woke up the other guys and Harry was coming to. They opened their eyes to Ron on top of Deena and Sue on top of Ron with a beverage in her hand.

"Ron? What's going on?" Dean asked.

"Are you --? With two --? Whoa," Seamus said.

"Ron, look out!" Neville yelled, seeing Sue raising her bottle and taking aim for Ron's head. Ron moved his head to the side and Sue's bottle connected with Deena's face, knocking her unconscious.

"Uh-oh. I'm in big trouble," Sue said, giggling. She leapt off Ron's back, returning to the shadows on top of his four-poster.

"Deena?" Harry asked groggily. He found his glasses, shoved them on his nose, sat up in bed, and took in the scene before him. "What the hell? What happened to Deena?" He rushed over as Ron got to his feet.

Footsteps approached the door to their room. Hurriedly, Harry picked up Deena, put her in his bed, and laid down on his side to front of her to block her from the view of anyone in the doorway. Ron jumped into his bed and, not having enough time to turn off his light, grabbed a textbook and opened it to a random page.

The door opened and McGonagall stuck her head into the room. She scanned the room and finally focused her attention on Ron, who appeared to be the only one awake. "Weasley, might I inquire what you're doing with the light on at one fifty-one in the morning?" said McGonagall.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to study for my N.E.W.T.s," Ron replied casually, as though he studied 24/7. "Don't worry, Professor. I promise I'll have the light off by two."

"Very well," McGonagall said. "Oh, and Weasley? You might get farther if the book was right side up," she pointed out before leaving.

-

_She looks so sweet lying there. I wonder if her hair is soft. Maybe her lips taste like sugar. What does she look like without her glasses? I wish I could see her in something other than her robes_.

Harry glanced at his watch. It was two-thirty now. She'd probably come to soon. Ron and the others had fallen asleep waiting. A moan from his bed caught his attention and he watched Deena open her eyes beneath her glasses.

"Sue, you're dead," Deena mumbled, glaring at the top of Ron's four-poster. A giggle replied and Harry turned to look at Sue's location. Only her eyes were visible in the shadows and it was creepy to see disembodied eyes in his room.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Am I alright? I had my face bashed in by Sue with a Sake bottle. Were you alright after she hit you?" Deena responded. "What time is it?"

"Two thirty," he told her.

"Oh, pickle rats! I have to get back to Slytherin," Deena cursed, getting out of his bed.

"Why's that?" Harry inquired, afraid that Ron had scared her away and ruined any chance Harry had with her.

"Early morning. I've gotta be up at five forty-five," she mumbled, heading for the door. "And don't even think about jumping on me, Sue."

Harry heard a dejected little sigh from the shadows and then a "BONZAI" Sue leapt from the shadows, knocking him down for the second time that night.

-----

Okay, crediting the song Deena sings. It's Christina Aguilera's _Somebody_.


	11. Chapter 11: In Dumbledore's Office

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from Harry Potter. I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

Chapter 11: In Dumbledore's Office

"They aren't bonding like they should be," McGonagall complained at Dumbledore. "Her attention isn't focused on him."

"I've noticed," Dumbledore replied, "that her attention is focused on her schoolwork, which is a positive thing."

"They ain't gettin' close like they oughta be," Hagrid added.

"I've been watching them in class. I feel the same way," Snape said.

"They'll get closer in eight months," Trelawney said. "I saw it in the crystal ball."

"We don't have eight months, we only have seven," Snape icily reminded Trelawney.

"They'd be close already if"- McGonagall began.

"Yes Minerva, we know," Dumbledore said, thinking over how many times she'd said "if this, if that". "I cannot correct that now."

"We gotta do somethin' to bring 'em together," Hagrid said.

"Perhaps you could assign projects with "randomly" chosen partners," Dumbledore suggested. "Have you seen any signs? Any at all?"

"I believe they're close to being friends, perhaps they almost are," Snape responded.

"We need other options," McGonagall said. "We've got to speed things up. Maybe find a way to get them alone."

"Not entirely alone," Snape contradicted. "It'd be better to have a social event and give them some "alone time" during it. That way they don't suspect anything. Everyone would question the two of them being pushed off alone somewhere. We want to be subtle about this."

"I've taken your comments into mind and have begun to form a plan," Dumbledore said.

The next morning, Dumbledore announced that in two days, there would be a dance to officially welcome Deena MacDonald to Hogwarts. They wouldn't pick their partner for the evening, instead they would be given a flower before the dance, and would then find the person with the exact same flower, who'd be their partner.

For the next two days, no students were admitted to Dumbledore's office, for it was filled with flowers. Names had been chosen at random and then were attached to flowers, except for two.


	12. Chapter 12: The War of the Roses

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 12: The War of the Roses

Deena couldn't have been more pleased with herself. When she'd been packing for Hogwarts, she decided to throw her prom dress for that year into her bag on impulse. Now that decision would pay off. Pansy, Millicent, and the other Slytherin girls were getting on nice dresses, but Deena was the only girl with an extravagant formal.

It was a strapless, red velvet dress. It clung to her body down to mid thigh, where it flared out. It was full-length and hid the red heels that went with it. She had a necklace with a red Austrian crystal heart and dangling red heart earrings. She had curled her hair and pulled it up at the back of her head, securing it to let the curls cascade down her back. When she did her make up, she made sure it looked natural. The last thing she did was put in her contacts.

Ready to go, she gently picked up the red rose with her name tied to it. She went out to the common room and realized she had another minute or two before the Slytherins had to be in the Great Hall. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws met first in the Great Hall and had ten minutes to find out if their partner was in that group before the Gryffindors joined them. Then ten minutes after that, the Slytherins joined the group.

Deena saw all the guys waiting in the common room for the girls. They all turned to look at her as she walked over and settled herself on a couch near the fireplace. She was conscious of their stares, but it didn't bother her. She met each of their stares, one by one, until they looked away. Finally, she was attempting to stare down Draco.

He took a seat next to her on the couch and glanced away, as if he suddenly found a staring contest childish. He reached out to touch her face gently.

"Don't. You might mess up my make up," Deena found herself saying.

"Is that all you girls think about," Draco teasingly replied, letting his hand drop nonetheless. She followed the movement with her eyes and discovered he had a white rose. In some ways, she was relieved not to have to spend the evening with him, but part of her was crushed. Just then, the girls came out and Deena knew it was time to go. Draco and Deena ended up being the last two out of the common room.

-

Harry's partner was obviously a Slytherin. Hermione was in the same predicament. Harry just hoped he got Deena.

When Deena entered, Harry almost didn't recognize her. She had to be wearing contacts. The red rose in her hand identified her as his partner and he breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't have Pansy or one of the other Slytherin girls. Harry walked over to her. By the time he reached her, she had seen his own red rose.

"Good evening, partner," she said lightly.

"Hey Deena," he returned.

"Oh no," Hermione said in disgust. Harry turned to see what was wrong and discovered that Hermione's partner to be Malfoy. He wasn't sure whether to laugh at Malfoy or feel sorry for Hermione.

"Let's go find our table," Deena said suddenly, practically dragging Harry away. The tables had bouquets on them and the couples with the flowers that matched the bouquets sat at that table. All the tables had two types of flowers in a bouquet, so two couples shared a table. Deena picked up on this rather quickly. "I'll just die if Draco's at our table."

"You wouldn't be the only one," Harry said.

"At least he hasn't been trying to get you in bed," Deena retorted with a viciousness that surprised Harry. She must have realized how vicious she'd been, for she quickly apologized. "Sorry. He's just really getting to me." There was a short pause. "I found our table."

Their table's bouquet was only red roses; they had the table to themselves. They sat down and waited for dinner to begin.

-

"Are we clear that absolutely nothing is going to happen tonight?" Granger asked for the thirtieth time. (They had the unfortunate luck of a table to themselves.)

"I'm not, never have been, and never have any intentions of being interested in you," Draco replied coldly, staring across the room at Deena. "I get what I want, and that," he said, nodding his head at Deena, "is what I want."

"She's obviously not interested," Granger said. "Isn't she Muggle-born anyway?"

"She's Slytherin, so she's obviously a Pureblood, unlike you," Draco retorted, giving Granger a cold glare. "Why don't you do us both a favor and quit talking?"

"Why should I listen to you?"

"If you don't talk to me, I won't talk to you."

"Fine."

_That should shut her up for five minutes_, Draco thought. _What do you think you're doing Deena? Potter of all people! Talking and laughing with him like you've been best friends since birth. And you're Slytherin. You have to be a Pureblood. But which family are you related to? I want to know your secrets, Deena. All of your secrets. Especially your deepest, darkest, secret desires. I will know them. It's just a matter of time._

-

Deena had felt Draco's eyes on her for quite some time before she lifted her gaze from her plate or Harry's face and found Draco. When their eyes met, she got the feeling that he wasn't staring at her, he was staring into her. He had gone through her outer shell and was now scrutinizing her soul. Her mind latched onto a song without her realizing it: _How can you see into my eyes, like open doors? Leading you down into my core_--

"What?" Harry asked. Deena ripped her eyes away from Draco's and locked them to Harry's. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"I didn't say anything," she replied.

"Your mouth was moving," Harry informed her.

"Oh, well...I was thinking about a song and I must have been mouthing it," she said. Deena had obviously convinced him, because he began telling her all about the joys of Quidditch and how awful it was that she'd never be on the House team because Slytherin was so biased. It was so hard for her not to tell him that she was on the team, but the entire House had made her promise not to tell anyone. She sat and listened to him, not at all bothered by it. She felt as though they knew each other so well that it didn't matter who was talking because they'd end up saying the same things.

Finally, Dumbledore announced the end of dinner and the beginning of the dance. They were playing music Deena had brought with her, not only so she'd be comfortable but also to let her fellow students have a taste of what she liked. Mostly she had music with a beat or slow-dance material. When Shakira's _Whenever _began playing, most people stood up, but a few remained rooted to their chairs. One of these people was Harry.

"Come on. It's time to dance," Deena said, walking over to stand beside him with a sweet smile on her face.

"I don't know how," Harry shamefully admitted.

"It's not like I'm asking you to waltz or something," she persisted. She pulled him up to his feet and tried to drag him away from the table, but he wouldn't budge. "Fine. If you won't dance out there, then we'll dance right here. Just remember, I'm a stubborn, bad ass Slytherin." Deena then proceeded to teach Harry how to bump and grind.

-

_Don't you dare! God, stop it this minute. Freak dancing with Potter? I can't stand this. I've got to stop anything that may start_.

"What's wrong with you?" Granger asked angrily.

"I thought I asked you to stop talking," Draco snapped back. _That's it. This is going to stop right now!_

"I don't have to listen to you, you know," Granger said, not noticing he had stood up and was leaving. "And furthermore—Hey! Where are you going?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't," she yelled, getting up and following him.

Draco stalked up to Deena in a self-righteous fury. Deena and Potter seemed to be totally absorbed in what they were doing. "Deena," Draco spat out tensely, breaking the spell. She turned to look at him. A smug smile turned up the corners of her pretty lips.

"You know, envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Draco," she said.

"Who said I was envious?" _Who said I was envious?! I should have been able to come back with something better than that._

"Your face said it," she giggled.

"I can't understand why you're dancing with someone so incompetent," Draco said.

"You think you could do better?" Potter asked incredulously.

"Ten times better," he claimed.

"Really?" Deena asked. "Prove it. With Hermione."

"No, that's disgusting," Hermione screeched, recoiling in horror.

"Prove it with your assigned partner, and I'll dance with you," Deena promised.

"Never!" Hermione yelled, running away in hysterics.

Making a fast move, Draco grabbed Deena. "Leave Deena alone," Potter commanded, dangerously soft.

"Make me," Draco replied in the same soft voice.

-

"Professor McGonagall, Malfoy...my...assigned date, he was...was making indecent proposals toward...D-deena. He was suggesting...all kinds of...corrupt kinkiness," Hermione spat out between fits of sobbing. She was in hysterics. "I-it was awful!" All her words became indiscernible as she sobbed her heart out at the trauma of it all. After instructing her to go see Madam Pomfrey, McGonagall hurried away.

-

_God, help me!_ Deena wasn't in the mood to witness a fight between Harry and Draco.

"Gentlemen!" McGonagall's crisp voice reprimanded. _Thank you Lord!_ McGonagall dragged them by the arms to a little side room and Deena hurried to keep up. She left the three of them alone in the room, instructing them to wait for Dumbledore.

_We're not going to wait in peace, that's for sure. We'll be waiting in pieces. Hey, this is like the War of the Roses. Red Rose versus White Rose. Oh crud! They're getting out their wands. Looks like I'll have to nip this in the bud._

Deena stood between the two of them, awfully perturbed at them for ruining her evening.

"Get out of the way, Deena," Draco commanded. No one noticed the door open a crack or saw Dumbledore peeking in on them.

"I most certainly will not. This is ridiculous," she stated, her eyes flashing with anger. "Harry, I know you hate Draco, but he's my friend, so you'll have to learn to tolerate him. And you"- she continued, turning to Draco, "the same goes for you. I don't know what it is Draco, but you seem to hate me making new friends. I suppose you think I should be dependent on you." She grabbed him violently by the neck of his robes. "I promise that if you get in my way and try to ruin my friendships, I will take you out."

"What seems to be the trouble here?" Dumbledore asked, opening the door. Both boys quickly lowered their wands and Deena let go of Draco's robes.

"It's okay now," Deena said pleasantly. "You won't have anymore trouble with these two. Right boys?" Deena gave them each a stony glare.

"Right," they mumbled, hanging their heads in a shameful manner.

-

"So how was your night with Deena?" Ron asked in Gryffindor Tower. It was almost midnight and the boys were in their room getting ready to go to bed.

"Pretty good," Harry answered. "The best part was when she intimidated Malfoy."

Ron saw something sticking out from underneath a pile of stuff on Harry's bedside table. "Harry, what's this?" Ron asked, pulling it out and looking at it. It was a picture of a house at night with the lights shining out the windows.

"It's got to be one of Deena's," Harry answered after glancing at it. "See the moon? She does lots of sketches like that."

"There's something weird about this one," Dean said, having come over to have a look.

Harry took another look, looking over the whole thing, then turned white. "Ron, how did she know? How could Deena possibly know?" Harry gasped.

"Know what?"

"That's my house. Before Voldemort tried to kill me," Harry explained, while the other boys winced.

"Maybe it's just a look alike," Seamus suggested.

"No, I can prove it," Harry said, digging through his stuff until he found his scrapbook. He opened it to a picture of his parents in front of their newly-purchased house. The house in Deena's sketch was an exact replica, down to the very last detail.

-----

The song Deena starts mouthing is Evanescence's _Bring Me to Life_.


	13. Chapter 13: Early Morning in Slytherin

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 13: Early Morning in Slytherin

Draco woke up because something had been nibbling his ear. In his dream, it had been Deena, but in reality it was his father's ruddy falcon. He took the letter and shoved the bird away until it left. The letter was brief:

_Son, I have acquired some valuable information on _

_Deena MacDonald. You are to get as close to her as_

_possible._

Like he needed to be told to get close to her. That was all he wanted. A glance at his wristwatch informed him that it was time to get up for Quidditch practice. He kicked Goyle's mattress to wake him up, then beat Crabbe until he showed signs of life. He went to the common room and found Chasers Posco Jeters and Rufus Hobson waiting, as well as Keeper Wesley Sipes. The only team member missing was Deena.

Draco opened the door to the girls' room quietly. A look inside told him his newest Chaser was still in bed. How anyone could sleep past five thirty in the morning on a Saturday was beyond him. He stood by her bed and softly called her name. She groaned in response and pulled her pillow over her head. Deciding to try something else, he went to the bottom of the bed and yanked the covers off. She curled up and whimpered. So he took more drastic measures. Returning to the side of the bed, he lifted the mattress and threw Deena onto the floor.

Deena's eyes flew open as she fell and her short nightgown slid up to reveal her underwear. Draco couldn't help but stare, and Deena noticed this.

"You pervert!" she yelled, grabbing her pillow and leaping to attack him after pulling her nightgown back down. This woke the other girls, who screamed because they considered themselves indecent to have a male in their room. Deena brought the pillow down with amazing force. She beat him out of the room with her pillow, calling him a pervert the entire time.

"Draco, there's a lump on your head," Posco informed him.

"The next person who wakes me up before nine DIES!" Deena yelled, standing in the doorway of the girls' room armed with a pillow and giving fatal glares to the entire Quidditch team.

"We've got Quidditch practice," Draco reminded her icily.

"You picked this ungodly hour of the morning to practice?"

"It's not that early," Rufus answered.

"Say that again and you'll get a lump like Draco's," Deena said furiously.

"You wouldn't hit someone smaller than you," Rufus returned, smugly confident of his assessment of her.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Deena leapt into the common room, beating Rufus with her pillow, but a lot more gently then she had with Draco. And she was laughing. Posco and Rufus attacked her in return, also laughing and hitting gently. It was almost like they were brothers and sister, like they were family. Everyone knew the Jeters and Hobsons were related. Maybe Deena was part of that family.

While the Chasers waged a pillow war, Pansy threw some of Deena's clothes, her new Quidditch robes, and her broom out into the common room and shut the door to the girls' room. When Deena went to get dressed, she found the door locked and, being without her wand, couldn't get back in. (None of the guys offered to unlock the door for her.) She made them face a wall and dressed behind their backs. Draco glanced over his shoulder more then once (he wasn't the only one to do so), hoping to catch a glimpse, but Deena must have felt his eyes and informed him that if he continued to look or looked again, he would die a thousand deaths.

-

Deena heaved a sigh of exasperation. They were practicing in the early morning, she hadn't had breakfast, and it was snowing. Posco and Rufus had no problem passing the Quaffle to Deena, but Crabbe and Goyle, the Beaters, seemed to abhor it. She had several close calls whenever the Quaffle was in her possession, and Posco and Rufus faced the same danger when they passed it to her, so they quit passing.

Finally, Deena gave up on getting the Quaffle. Draco didn't notice her land and take shelter from the snow in the changing rooms. Too tired to walk up to the castle, Deena grabbed her school robe out of the locker she'd left it in. It wasn't long enough to cover her, so she "borrowed" Draco's and laid down on a bench, using her robe for a pillow and Draco's for a blanket. The bench was uncomfortable, but she found a semi-comfortable position and fell asleep. Then the nightmare came.

_Where am I? I don't think I know this place...wait, I do. This is the house in the sketch I gave Harry. Things are changing. Why am I in a dark room now? Who's that standing over there? I...I know him, or at least, I should. What is he doing? Is he firing a spell at me? What type of spell is that??_ In the dream, the spell flew past her and she turned to see it hit Harry. It flung back about twenty feet, over the edge of a dark crevice. He managed to catch the edge. Draco went over (_Where did he come from?_) and attempted to throw Harry into the pit. Deena tried to run to get to Harry, but she could only limp. Something was wrong with her left leg. When she got to him, she pushed Draco aside and grabbed onto Harry and struggled to pull him up.

"_Don't let go_," he pleaded to her.

"_I won't, and that's a promise_," Deena replied.

Deena struck her head on something hard and jolted awake. She had fallen off the bench. She couldn't sleep here. She walked up to the castle, into Slytherin, and then promptly flopped down onto one of the common room's couches, falling into a deeper slumber, with a new nightmare awaiting her.

-

"Where's Deena?" Draco asked, noticing she wasn't in the changing room. He picked up his robe from where it laid crumpled on the floor.

"She left practice early," Posco offered.

"Why would she do that?"

"Don't know," Rufus said, keeping Posco from revealing the truth.

Draco hurriedly got his robes on and made his way back to the House. When he got there, he found Deena stretched out on a couch, asleep. She was thrashing around, as people in nightmares often do. He went over and shook her shoulders. She grabbed hold of him as she screamed, her eyes flying open as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Deena pressed herself into him, searching for comfort and security.

"It's alright," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her. He waited until her sobs died before he asked her about it. "What did you see in that dream? Tell me."

"No," she answered evenly, pulling away from him. She wasn't crying anymore; she had composed herself to look strong in his eyes. Her face hid her fright, but her eyes were incapable of such deception.


	14. Chapter 14: Deena's Secrets

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from Harry Potter. I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

Chapter 14: To Know My Secrets

Deena had found the kitchen. It took her long enough. But Sue wasn't there. The house elves said that Sue was looking for her. So Deena walked along, taking random corridors and trying to put together the puzzle in her mind.

_Why did I dream that? I wasn't there. I couldn't've been. And why was it so important for me to come here? Why doesn't Dumbledore just tell me?_

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping off a gargoyle and tackling Deena to the ground.

"Sue!" Deena cried ecstatically, hugging her on impulse.

"Aaaggghhh!" Sue yelled, squirming to get away. "Who're you and what've you done with Deena?"

"I need you to get me into Gryffindor," Deena begged.

"You'll get in trouble."

"I don't care."

"Alrighty, then. Let's go."

_Oh, to know my secrets! He has to be able to help me. He just has to_. They reached Gryffindor Tower quickly and Sue wasted no time in opening the portrait. Deena could see Harry and other Gryffindors sitting in the common room.

"HEY HARRY! DEENA WANTS TO SEE YOU!" Sue yelled. Deena and Harry both turned beet red with embarrassment at the Gryffinors' stares. _How did Sue know I wanted to talk to Harry?_ He came outside and the portrait swung shut behind him.

"I need to talk to you," they said simultaneously as Sue perched herself atop a gargoyle.

"You first," Deena said.

"How did you know what my house looked like?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"That sketch you gave me. It's my house. Before Voldemort tried to kill me."

"Harry, I don't know what you're talking about. It's just a drawing. It's got a creepy feel, but other than that"-

"It is my house. It's an exact replica, down to the very last detail," Harry argued.

"Look, I don't' want to fight about this. I need to talk to you about these two nightmares I had. In one, someone attacked you and I was trying to save you. And in the other, I saw the night your parents were killed. But I couldn't have been there. It makes no sense."

"Why don't we ask Dumbledore?"

"He never answers my questions," Deena complained.

"He always answers mine. Don't worry. We'll get this figured out. Come on," Harry said, taking her hand. He led her to Dumbledore's office, Sue following for lack of anything better to do. They knocked on the door and were bid to come in. Harry and Deena took a seat, but Sue decided to perch on top of a bookcase.

"What a pleasant surprise," Dumbledore greeted them. "What brings the two...three of you to my office this early in the morning?"

"How do I know what Harry's house looked like? Why did I dream that I was there the night his parents were killed? Why was it so important for me to come here?" Deena asked.

"Now is not the time"- Dumbledore began with a sigh.

"Now is the perfect time!" Deena replied. "I can't go on not knowing. I don't care."

"Please Dumbledore," Harry added. "It means a lot to the both of us."

Dumbledore sat down across from them and sighed deeply. Normally, he had a twinkle in his eyes that displayed how young at heart he was, but it disappeared now, showing him to be as old as he looked. "This won't be easy," he murmured. "I suppose it would be best to begin with the Riddles, but only if you two are sure you want to hear all of this. I can't tell you only part of it."

"We're sure," Deena breathed.

"Alright then. We all know that Tom Riddle's father was a Muggle. Mr. Riddle had a son with another wife before Tom's mother. That son was a wizard, Tom's half-brother. His name was Edward Riddle and he attended Durmstrang. He married Shania MacDonald, a Muggle. Tom hated him and avoided Edward at all costs, until he married Shania. Despising his half-brother for marrying a Muggle, Tom, Lord Voldemort by this time, killed his half-brother. Voldemort was unaware that Shania was pregnant, or he might have killed her as well. On July 30th, almost seventeen years ago, Shania went into labor. She gave birth to a girl the same day you were born Harry. In fact, she shared a hospital room with your mother. Unfortunately, Shania had lost too much blood to survive. When the doctors informed her that she wouldn't make it, they also informed Lily that Harry wasn't strong enough to survive. Making a spur-of-the-moment decision, Shania signed her daughter over to Lily. Two nurses were present and signed as witnesses, making the whole procedure legal. They moved Shania's little girl to the same crib as Harry's. Shortly after Shania passed away, Harry made a miraculous recovery to become a perfectly healthy infant. It couldn't be explained, but some of the nurses believed that he drew strength from his adopted sister to survive."

"I'm that little girl," Deena whispered. Dumbledore handed her birth certificate over. _Diina Michelle Riddle_. "D-i-i-n-a? How do you pronounce that?"

"Just he same as you always have. The MacDonalds changed the two 'i's to 'e's so your name would seem more normal," Dumbledore said.

"But why wasn't she living with us," Harry inquired, "before Voldemort killed my mum and dad? There's no pictures of her. No one's ever mentioned Diina living with us and I don't remember her."

"Well, there were pictures of her, but they mysteriously disappeared the night Voldemort attacked. She did live with you. We never mentioned her to you because it seemed that it was not the right time. You were too young to remember Diina, I suppose. After James and Lily died, Diina was sent to the MacDonalds in America," Dumbledore said.

Diina handed her birth certificate back. Without a word, she got up and left. Harry got up to follow.

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping off the bookcase and tackling Harry. "Diina has to be alone right now."

"No, she needs company," Harry argued.

"You'll push her away," Sue told him. "I know Diina. She has to take care of this herself."

"But she thinks it's her fault my parents got killed," he said, knowing that was what Diina was thinking.

"Yeah, she does. And, if you leave her alone, she'll realize it couldn't've been prevented and forgive herself for that even though it wasn't Diina's fault. So just trust me. Leave Diina alone. She'll let us know when she's ready," Sue said.


	15. Chapter 15: Dealing With It

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 15: Dealing With It

Diina didn't know that Mrs. Norris was leading Filch right to the closet where she was hiding. She wasn't exactly in reality, though. _It was my fault. All my fault._ She didn't notice Filch fling open the door and see the look on his face that said he was shocked to find a girl immersed in self-pity rather than misbehaving.

Filch pulled her to her feet and assisted her dutifully to the Hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey attempted to give her a tincture of poppies, but failed. Diina didn't want anything and refused it. Filch had retrieved Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. Upon their arrival, Diina dumped the tincture and left the empty bottle on the table beside her bed, feigning sleep. They began talking oblivious to the fact that she heard every word.

"I knew this would happen if you told her," McGonagall hissed to Dumbledore. "Now the poor girl is going to have a mental breakdown."

"I couldn't avoid it Minerva," Dumbledore answered. "She was impossible to refuse."

"Really? Or was it Potter that you couldn't refuse?" Snape asked coldly. Diina dared to open her eyes a bit to look at the teachers.

"Severus, we've been over that before and"-

"Little pitchers have big ears," Snape interrupted, shooting a look at Diina. She snapped her eyes shut, then, on second thought, guiltily opened them.

"Are you feeling alright?" McGonagall asked kindly.

"I'm fine," Diina lied, making her way to the doors so she could leave.

McGonagall put a hand on Diina's arm in a motherly gesture. "It's understandable if you aren't. You don't have to be ashamed of it," McGonagall replied in a very reassuring voice, quite different from her normal authoritive voice.

Diina pulled away. She lost her grip on self-control and blurted out her thoughts. "The truth is I'm not fine. In fact, I've never felt worse! I've just discovered that the boy I was almost positive was my soulmate was my adoptive brother and it's my fault his parents were murdered! I've never had such a deplorable day! But I'll bear it unaccompanied! So just be glad you don't have to assist me with this burden!" She stormed out of the Hospital wing, tears pouring from her eyes. The last the professors heard of her was out in the hallway: "GO AWAY SUE! SEPARATE YOUR MALEVOLENT, DEMONIC SLEF FROM ME! LEAVE ME TO MY LAMENTATIONS!"

Sue popped into the Hospital wing. "Figures Diina would use big words when she's mad," Sue commented to the professors. "What's malevolent mean?"

"It means wishing evil towards others," McGonagall explained tiredly.

"She has romantic feelings for Potter," Snape remarked.

"Duh!" Sue said. "Only an idiot wouldn't notice. Obviously they wouldn't've met at the lakeside that night if she didn't like him."

"When did they meet at the lake?" McGonagall asked.

"Who?" Sue replied.

"When did _Harry and Diina_?" McGonagall corrected through gritted teeth.

"When did Harry and Diina do what?"

"Meet at the lake!"

"They did? Wow! I wonder if she got any action. If she wasn't upset, I'd ask her..." Sue trailed off, leaving the Hospital wing.

"We can't get any reliable information from _that_," Snape snapped.

-

Diina had found a new place to hide. It was a tall window a good ten feet up from the floor. It's sill was large enough to hold her with plenty of room left over, and the gargoyle next to it had proved to be easy to climb, giving her access to this superb spot. Her body had heated up the window and any flake of snow that had the unfortunate luck of fluttering onto the pane melted on contact.

The droplets that used to be snow made their own paths down the window, occasionally joining, or being joined by, another drop. _It's like life. You start out alone and then find friends along the way. Joining with them makes the two of you one. And it keeps adding up. I'm like that. I've got Sue. My path paralleled Harry's and just when I thought we'd become one, our paths drifted apart violently. It isn't fair._

Diina lost herself in her thoughts about how much Harry must hate her. The approaching steps went unheard, as did the sounds of someone climbing the gargoyle next to her.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Draco said, trying his best to restore Diina to reality. His comment seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. She had yet to acknowledge his presence. She was staring out the window, but he got the feeling that she wasn't seeing beyond the glass. Having no clue what was wrong with her, he could not comfort her.

The windowsill could hold the both of them, so he carefully moved over and positioned himself beside her. He took her hand in his, but she still seemed lost. He took a good look at her face and saw Diina's blue eyes spilling silent tears. "Diina, what's wrong?" he inquired.

"Go away," she whispered.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"I SAID GO AWAY!" Diina screamed, yanking her hand back and pushing him off the windowsill. While he recovered, she climbed down the gargoyle and stalked off. _Great! I have to find a new hiding place because of that jerk!_ When she heard Draco following her, she turned to face him and hopefully rid herself of him permanently. "Why are you following me?"

"I want to help you," he replied, grabbing her arm so she couldn't run off.

"I don't need help," Diina snapped, trying to pull her arm free, but failing miserably. "I'm fine by myself. So let go and get lost!"

"Damnit Diina!" Draco yelled, throwing her up against the wall. "Open up and let someone help you once in a while. It helps if you share the pain."

"What would you know?" she cried. "You have no idea. I bet you've never opened up and told someone how you feel. When it comes to things like this, you're an idiot, Draco, a complete idiot!"

"Just because I've never let someone in, that makes me an idiot?"

"That's right!"

"Tell the truth, Diina!"

"I am."

"No, you're not. Why are you mad at me, Diina? Tell me," he insisted angrily, keeping her up against the wall.

"Because you're trying to take advantage of me when I'm feeling vulnerable," she yelled. "What ticks me off the most is that you're trying to help me when I don't need it!"

"You're mad at me because I'm right and you know it. You know you need help, you just don't want to admit it. You've got too much damn pride," Draco contradicted.

"Isn't that what Slytherin's all about? Pride?"

"Slytherin's about getting what you want and doing anything to get it, not crying in a window. Get out there, take what you need, and move on."

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you? You took what you needed from Millicent and the other girls. She told me. And now you're taking it from Pansy. You'll hop in bed with anyone, won't you? You think you're going to ditch Pansy and I'll be your little whore. It was too good to be true, wasn't it, Draco? A new Slytherin you could screw so you wouldn't have to play with the old ones. Too bad I'm not as stupid as you thought."

"I'll screw who I want, when I want, how I want, and that includes you," he replied.

"Take your vile hands off her," Harry said, suddenly seen at the end of the hall.

"Shove off, Potter! This is Slytherin business," Draco snapped.

"Yes, it is," Diina agreed. She brought her knee up into Draco's groin, and he let go of her. "And we're finished here." She marched away, leaving Draco in pain and Harry in giggles.

-

Severus watched her, his presence in the Quidditch stands unbeknownst to Diina. She had come out in the middle of the night to play soccer with herself. Suddenly, she kicked the ball away from her as hard as she could, screaming, and collapsed in sobs. He took his time getting to her. When Severus got to her, she was completely still. He rolled her over onto his back and discovered Diina was fast asleep. Emotional stress had exhausted her.

He picked her up and carried her back up to Hogwarts. As he descended into the Dungeons towards Slytherin, he noticed restlessness in Diina. They were about to pass his office when she jolted awake with a scream. Severus almost dropped her. He set her on her feet and opened the door to his office, then beckoned her inside. She followed him in, shut the door behind her, and took the seat in front of his desk.

"What, pray tell, was that all about?" he asked, sitting down at his desk.

"It was just a nightmare, sir," Diina answered.

"Before that."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"On the Quidditch pitch, Miss Riddle." She winced when he used her proper last name, and she neglected to reply. Severus stared at her expectantly.

"Don't you have something important to do?" Diina inquired. "Grade essays or something?"

"I have nothing more pressing at the moment, except the well-being of one of my Chasers."

"I have something more pressing. I should be in bed," she snapped, standing up to leave.

"I did not dismiss you. Sit down." She slammed herself into the chair, seething, and glared at the floor. "I'm listening."

"To what? I'm certainly not talking!"

"Unless I am mistaken, those were words coming out of your mouth just now."

"I need my sleep, Professor."

"More words? I thought you weren't talking," Severus said. "It appears you wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

"It's none of your business whether I can or cannot sleep."

"You have an odd notion about what is not my business," Severus retorted. "Anything that affects my students is my business."

"You don't take students into your office to question them on what's bothering them often. Why am I the unfortunate one to receive such treatment?" Diina argued.

"After the earlier display of sudden violence on the Quidditch pitch? By the way, I'm still in the dark about the reason for that."

"I had a tantrum sir," she said through gritted teeth. "May I go now?"

"Naturally, it would be illegal for me to give a student anything more powerful than Madam Pomfrey's poppy tincture," he began, going over to a cabinet and extracting a flask from it. "Her's is only enough to calm the nerves, but you'll find this tincture induces sleep." Severus gave her the flask.

"Sir, what if"-

"My advice is that you don't get caught with that."

"But"-

"You are dismissed."

"Why am I dismissed now?"

"Because I happen to be leaving and do not desire to leave a student in my office with a great amount of unattainable potion ingredients at her disposal," Severus replied casually.

They walked to the Slytherin common room. Just before going to her room, Diina threw her arms around Severus in a brief hug. She left him in the common room, puzzling what had prompted her to embrace him.

"How did you manage to tame the shrew?" Draco asked from a chair in the shadows.


	16. Chapter 16: Sue Decides to Help

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 16: Sue Decides to Help

Diina woke up from another nightmare. She'd taken a sip from that flask to fall asleep. Obviously a sip wasn't enough. She grabbed the flask off her night table and finished off the contents in one gulp. She was asleep again before her head hit the pillow.

_She was creeping through a mansion. Diina didn't know what it looked like; it was too dark to see. She tiptoed down the stairs. A light came from one room, but she headed away from it. She was close to the front door when someone grabbed her. They muffled her screams by holding a cloth over her mouth and nose._

_Diina held her breath as her captor dragged her outside, staying as motionless as possible so that the person would assume she was unconscious. However, this person was taking no chances and jolted her body enough to make her exhale and inhale before she could stop herself. As her eyes slid shut in the dream, she was positive she'd wake up any second now._

_When Diina's eyes fluttered opened, she knew she was still in the dream. The area around her was completely unfamiliar. She could sense Harry's presence, but she couldn't see him._

_"Harry, I'm scared," she said._

_"It's only a dream," Harry replied. "It can't hurt you."_

_"But I can't make it stop. I've tried , but I can't wake up."_

_"Wait, I thought this was my dream."_

_"No, it's mine," Diina admitted reluctantly._

_"Apparently, we have to ability to tap into each other's dreams...odd. If you can't wake up, do you think that would mean that I can't wake up?"_

_"I don't know. Give it a try."_

_Silence prevailed for a few minutes. "I was right. I can't wake up."_

-

Sue hummed to herself while she cooked. Diina had been really down yesterday when she found out all that stuff about being a Riddle, and she hadn't improved much. So Sue had decided to help. She was making a dinner just for Diina. It was Diina's favorite: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, chocolate covered strawberries, and Boston Crème Pie.

To spice it up, Sue marinated the chicken in Sake. The gravy had Sake added in and Sue had used Sake as an extra ingredient when making the chocolate to cover the strawberries. Also, Diina's pumpkin juice was spiked with a little Vodka.

-

Diina read the note attached to her plate. It was from Sue. Sue had made a plate of Diina's favorites. _How sweet_, Diina thought.

When she finished her meal, however, Diina felt more passionately about it. She felt totally relaxed and, despite her situation, happy. She was a little sleepy too. _Sue is the bestest friend in the whole world. If I wasn't so sleepy, I'd go down to the kitchen and hug her and give her lots of money. But I think I'll just go back to Slytherin_.

Diina decided that she was too happy to worry when the room spun as she got to her feet. She didn't mind when the floor lurched as she walked out the doors and headed for Slytherin. She hadn't gotten far when strong arms scooped her up. It turned out to be Draco (she saw five of him) and she discovered she was actually pleased to see him. That was the last thought she had before she passed out.

-

Maelona Zabini (a Fifth year girl, and Blaise's little cousin) and Millicent were back at Slytherin. The rest of their House (with the exception of Diina and Draco) were still at dinner. Maelona assumed that that Diina was in their dormitory and Draco was in his room. He'd asked her to come see him tonight (most likely he wanted intimacy and was tired of that cow, Pansy) and she decided now was the perfect time to go to him.

When she opened the door to his room, Maelona discovered Draco in bed with a unconscious Diina. Naturally, both of their robes were on the floor, as was Diina's shirt. "Oh, no you don't," Maelona whispered, picking up a pillow from the closest bed. "You ungrateful WRETCH!" she yelled, launching herself at Draco. Maelona then proceeded to beat him with the pillow and continued screaming.

Draco, intent on his imminent conquest, would have none of this. "B," he hissed as he shoved Maelona away. Unfortunately, Maelona's screams had brought Millicent in.

"You two-timing bastard! Obviously our time together this afternoon meant nothing to you," Millicent exclaimed.

"You two are ganging up on me. I'm not the only one in the bed, you know," Draco snapped.

"You're the only conscious one in the bed," Pansy yelled from behind Millicent. "You certainly won't be seeing me tomorrow night, Draco!"

"Please stop yelling," Diina mumbled. "My head hurts."

"Don't worry darling. I'll take care of them," Draco whispered soothingly to Diina.

"She's drunk!" Millicent accused. "Diina doesn't know what she's doing."

"What's all the disturbance up here?" Professor Snape asked. He quickly scanned the scene. "Ladies, return to your room. Malfoy, go wait in my office. Diina, can you walk?"

"That's a silly question, of course I can walk," Diina replied. "Wait a minute. Has anyone seen my shirt? I can't go anywhere without my shirt.

"It's on the floor beside the bed," Snape informed her as the girls shut the door to their room and Draco stomped out of the common room.

Diina pathetically attempted to put her shirt on. She was unsuccessful at getting her head through one of the sleeves (which she was certain was the neck), so Snape had to help her. He then escorted her to Madam Pomfrey, Diina clutching his arm and leaning on him for support the whole way, muttering that he was stupid for thinking she couldn't walk, she'd been walking since she was like, two, and he clearly had never noticed her walk in and out of Potions every day.

-

Sue was singing softly about cows and wondering through the halls. She paused outside the Hospital Wing when she heard a familiar voice.

"I don't want it," Diina protested.

"It'll make you feel better," Madam Pomfrey said, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"I don't want it."

"You need to take it to help alleviate the hangover," Madam Pomfrey replied.

"I just wanna rest. Let me sleep, you old hag."

"Hi Diina," Sue said, walking in. "Hello, Madam Pomfrey. I came to see Diina. I didn't know she was in here though, until I walked past singing that Bound for Moo-Moo Land Song, which is all about cows, and"-

"That's nice, dear," Madam Pomfrey said as though she didn't think it was nice at all and didn't want to hear it. "Now, listen here," Madam Pomfrey began, turning back to Diina, who was fast asleep.

-

The following weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend and it found Diina in the Three Broomsticks, begging for Sake. (Dumbledore informed her that someone had signed the permission form she needed to visit Hogsmeade, though she didn't know who and he wouldn't tell her.) Rosmerta said students couldn't have Sake. Sue came bouncing in and, seeing Diina's predicament, skipped over and bought two bottles of Sake (one for her, one for Diina).

"You liked the dinner I made you on Sunday, right?" Sue asked once they were sitting at a table.

"It was fine. The only bad part was when I passed out and Draco tried to take advantage of me," Diina replied. Draco came in, scanned the room, found Diina and headed straight for her. "Speak of the Devil."

"The Devil? Where?" Sue asked, glancing around. When Diina didn't answer, Sue got up to go find the Devil.

Diina was left alone at the table, but not for long. Draco quickly took Sue's vacant seat. "Hi Diina," he started.

"No, I am not getting drunk, you'll not have an opportunity like last time, and I am still mad at you," she informed him before he could ask what she was doing or if she was still upset.

"I think we need to start over."

"Start over with yourself."

"I just," he paused, reached across the table, and took her hand, "wanted to be more than friends. I had to know what it felt like to hold you, what I would see in those blue eyes, what I would taste on those lips."

"Proverbs 27:6Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," she quoted. "Enemy is the perfect word to describe you."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Draco asked.

"Enemy means we aren't on good terms. If you're referring to the verse, it means that you're trying to deceive me," Diina replied casually. "If you don't leave immediately, I will sic Sue on you."

-

Draco walked up the path from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, no longer in the mood to be anywhere but sulking in his room. Because of Maelona, Millicent, and Pansy, he hadn't gotten what he wanted, he'd lost one hundred and fifty points for Slytherin, he had detention with Filch for two months, and Diina wouldn't talk to him for more than five minutes. He swore under his breath and began plotting to get himself back in Diina's good graces.

-

Harry ran a hand through his hair and sighed tiredly. He and Diina hadn't sleep well this week. Unfortunately, the dreams had nothing to do with Voldemort. Rather, they had everything to do with Malfoy making love to Diina, which disgusted Harry and terrified Diina.

Noting that Harry wasn't in reality at the moment, Ron and Hermione had begun discussing their N.E.W.T.s. no one noticed Sue sneaking up on them. She crept under the table, keeping low to the floor and being as discreet as possible.

"Psst, Harry," Sue hissed, tugging his robes to get his attention.

"What is it, Sue?" he asked as politely as he could manage with little sleep and disturbing thoughts on Diina and Malfoy's relationship. Sue beckoned for him to come down. "I'm not getting under the table."

"Oh, alright. What I want to say is that you should go talk to Diina now," Sue whispered, thinking she could help Diina by having Harry talk to her.

"And you have to tell me this while your under the table because...?"

"Oh, I just felt like being sneaky, kinda like a spy."

Harry sighed and, deciding to follow Sue's request, got up and went over to the booth where Diina sat alone. Rather than sit across from her, he sat next to her, ignoring the stares and whispers of his classmates.

"Hey Diina," he said quietly. Her response was to stare at the table, silent. She was upset with the fact that he'd seen her dreams about Malfoy. Slowly and awkwardly, Harry put his arm around Diina's shoulders. She turned to him and buried her face in his chest, letting silent tears spill from her eyes.

Seconds slipped into minutes, minutes faded into hours, and it didn't seem that time had truly passed for the both of them until Rosmerta tapped Harry on the shoulder, informing him that they should leave now to make it back to Hogwarts on time. He stood and pulled Diina up, then turned to leave. He saw Sue "bonzai-ing" the customers as they entered the pub.

"I'll take Sue with us," Harry told Rosmerta, ready to apologize for Sue's behavior.

"You can leave her here. She scares the customers so bad that they end up buying more drinks," Rosmerta laughed.

Harry and Diina left The Three Broomsticks, holding hands as they walked up the path. A light snow began to fall, and Harry and Diina stopped walking. They both wanted to say something, but neither knew what to say. They turned to face each other. _Just talk to her,_ Harry thought. _Tell her you're sorry about how Malfoy treated her. Alright, now say it!_

However, Harry couldn't say anything because his lips were locked with Diina's. he realized he had initiated the kiss, not Diina. But she put up no resistance. He pulled her closer and just as things seemed to be getting too intense-

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, appearing out of nowhere and tackling Diina to the ground, ripping her away from Harry. "Hey Diina, you getting any?"

"SUE, I'M GONNA KILL YOU" Diina screamed.

"Temper, temper," Malfoy drawled from the shadows by the path. "You should expect people to ask you that if you're going to play kissey face with Potter."

"What I do is none of your business," she snapped at him, pushing Sue off.

"Oh look! A puppy," Sue said, spotting a little stray dog in street. Sue ran to go catch it.

"Anything that might interfere with your Quidditch performance is my business," he whispered to her, offering her a hand to help her up.

"Is that so?" she whispered back sarcastically, pushing his hand away and getting up by herself.

"Yes."

"Well then, tell Crabbe and Goyle to stop aiming the Bludgers at me every time I get the Quaffle!" she hissed.

"They're just testing you."

"Oh, yeah, they're testing me alright. They're testing my reflexes!" Diina snapped, ending their whispered conversation. She continued on her way up the path, leaving Harry and Malfoy to follow. They ended up one n either side of her, glaring at each other over the top of her head.

"So Diina, what are you doing for Christmas?" Harry asked, just to make conversation.

"She's going home with me," Malfoy replied.

"No, I'm not," Diina contradicted. He got a look on his face that said he had a reason why she was going to his house and it couldn't be argued with, but Diina didn't want to hear it and she had a full proof argument anyway. "I have to take my O.W.L.'s over Christmas break, remember? Then in spring, I'll have to take the N.E.W.T.s with you guys."

"You're staying for the break?" Malfoy asked, making it sound as though it was the worse thing you could possibly do.

"Yeah, even if I did want to leave, there's nowhere for me to go."

"You do realize that you'll be the only one in Slytherin?"

"Oh, man! That'll just ruin my vacation," Diina answered sarcastically. "It's what, two weeks? Two weeks that I won't have to worry about being raped and will be denied listening to the girls' not so comforting words that if anything does happen between you and me, at least it will be good. Gee darn! Get a clue, Draco!"

"Diina, lookie, lookie. It's my new puppy, her name is Mince, ain't she cute," Sue said, shoving the dog in Diina's face. Sue had once again appeared out of thin air.

"Get the dog outta"-

"Mince. Her name is Mince."

"Fine, get Mince outta my face," Diina snapped.

"Don't worry, Mince, Diina's just grumpy right now. She really loves you deep down. I'll bet Malfoy loves you too," Sue said, shoving the dog in his face.

Malfoy did not like Mince, but Mince loved him. Mince licked his face, vigorously wagging her tail.

"Aww, how sweet. Isn't puppy love grand?" Diina teased. Thoroughly annoyed, Malfoy smacked the puppy. "How dare you! Hitting a defenseless puppy!" Diina delivered an impressive punch to Malfoy's face. Sue shoved Mince into Diina's arms and tackled Malfoy, beating him mercilessly.

"Asshole!" Sue yelled. "You leave Mince alone!"


	17. Chapter 17: Christmas

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 17: Christmas

Diina heaved another sigh of relief. She had finished taking her O.W.L.s that morning. It was Christmas Eve, and Diina was headed for the Great Hall for dinner.

"BONZAI!" Sue yelled, leaping off the suit of armor she was perched on top of and knocking Diina to the ground. A muffled 'yip' sounded from between Diina and Sue. "Mince! Are you okay?" Sue scrambled off Diina and grabbed the puppy off of Diina's stomach.

"Oh, sure, ask the dog is he's okay, but don't worry about Diina," Diina muttered. "That's the first time you've bonzaied with Mince, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"I'd say she did pretty well for a first-timer," Diina joked. "What're you doing out of the kitchen? It's almost dinner time, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but the elves said I should eat with you and take Mince with me."

"Think it might have to do with the fact that Mince keeps breaking things?"

"Nah, they just want her to get out and have some fun."

Diina and Sue entered the Great Hall, Mince trotting along behind. Diina went to the Slytherin table, even though she was the only one there. Sue followed, thoroughly puzzled.

"Don'tcha wanna sit with Harry?" Sue asked.

"No, I don't."

"Why not?"

"It's none of your business."

"Why not?"

"I'm not telling you."

"I'll scream at the top of my lungs."

"Fine," Diina snapped. "I don't want to sit with him because things are complicated and I don't know how I feel."

"I can help," Sue proclaimed, pulling out a copy of some paper. "See, it's the horoscopes. Read yours and you'll find the answer."

Diina read hers thoroughly, then thought about what it said. It told her that there were two people in her life vying for her affection. The one she met first was the best match for her and she should detach herself from the second before the shadow lurking over that person fell on her. _So the stars think Draco's the one for me? Ridiculous. Those stars should take a closer look at things before they align themselves and predict this nonsense._ "Sue, I don't need this right now. Get it out of my sight," Diina sighed.

"Okay," Sue said, putting it back in her pocket. "But just remember to trust your horoscope. It'll come back to haunt you if you don't. It may seem like nonsense right now, but"-

"Sue, I get the point," Diina interrupted. Silence reigned for a few minutes.

"Diina, we'll always be together, right?"

"Sadly, it is my curse to be with you," Diina replied. "Unfortunately for me, I can never—and I stress the 'never'—get away from you. So yes, we'll always be together."

"Hurroo," Sue crowed happily, hugging Mince. "Hear that, Mince? We're gonna be with Diina forever and ever and ever and ever...."

"I think I'm gonna be an alcoholic," Diina mumbled. Someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Yeah, whaddya want?" she sighed, turning around to see who desired her attention. "Oh. Hi Ron."

"Hi. Uh, can I sit?"

"Sure, go ahead. It'll be worth it when I tell all the Slytherins that a Gryffindor sat at our table and defiled it. Then they won't eat here and I'll get some peace and quiet during mealtime," Diina replied. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well...I know something happened between you and Harry. I'm not asking for any details or anything"-

"They were kissing and Draco saw it," Sue supplied.

"I hate you with a passion," Diina told Sue.

"My point is"- Ron began.

"I know you hate me. But I love you," Sue interrupted.

"My point"- Ron tried again.

"You don't love me. You love annoying me," Diina retorted.

"My poi"- Ron said.

"Same thing," Sue said.

"My"- Ron attempted.

"No, it's not! If you loved me, you wouldn't annoy me," Diina contradicted Sue.

"Like I was saying"- Ron said through gritted teeth, frustrated with the lack of attention on what he was trying to say.

"You were saying something?" Sue asked. "I had no idea."

"Yeah, I never heard a word," Diina added.

"Well, you can't just ignore Harry. He's all depressed and thinks he's done something wrong. We can't have a conversation without him analyzing the situation, where he went wrong, and how to fix it," Ron explained.

"First, I can ignore him I want to. Second, he shouldn't be depressed because he's done nothing wrong. And third, if you two can't have a conversation, that's not my problem," Diina answered. "Lastly, since he did nothing wrong, there is nothing to fix. My reason for 'ignoring him' is that I'm confused and am not sure I'm ready for a relationship. It has nothing to do with him, it has everything to do with me and my insecurities."

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how insecure Diina can be," Sue said, cuddling Mince. "Like in the hotel room with Draco, she"-

"One more word and I'll kill you," Diina threatened.

"But"-

"Listen. It's none of Ron's business. Should you choose to make it his business, that's all fine and well. Just don't do it in front of me. Then I can assume it's all Draco's fault and be mad at him instead of you."

"But I like it when you're mad at me."

"I don't. Besides, if you want to see me beat up Draco, then you should do everything you can to make me think that he's spreading rumors about me," Diina said.

"You're mad at me right now."

"Yes, I am."

Sue leaned over and gave Diina a hug and a kiss. "I'm sorry. There. Now we've kissed and made up."

"I'm still mad at you."

"Yay!" Sue cheered.

"Go away."

-

Ron heaved a sigh as he returned to Gryffindor table.

"What did you say?" Harry asked.

"I thought you were going to kill me for going over there," Ron replied, recalling Harry's threats and Ginny's pleadings not to talk to Diina.

"Just tell me what happened," Harry said.

"Well, you know how girls are. She said bunches of pointless dribble drabble."

"What were the contents of the 'pointless dribble drabble'?"

"She started off by offering me a seat so she could tell Malfoy and the others that the table was defiled by a Gryffindor. Then she and Sue got into a fight about whether or not Sue loved her and I couldn't get a word in edgewise. When I finally managed to say something, they told me that they hadn't heard me saying anything before. Then I told Diina she can't ignore you, that you're all depressed because you think you've done something wrong, and that we can't have a conversation without you trying to figure out how to fix it," Ron said.

"I can't believe you told her that," Harry mumbled angrily.

"Well, she said she'll ignore you if she wants to, you shouldn't be depressed because you've done nothing wrong, if we can't have a conversation it's not her problem, and there's nothing to be fixed between you two. She's ignoring you because she's confused and insecure," Ron finished.

"Is that it?" Ginny asked from her seat across the table.

"The rest really isn't relevant."

"Tell me," Harry demanded.

"Okay. Sue said Diina was very insecure and tried to give me an example with Diina and Malfoy in a hotel room, but Diina threatened to kill her. Then she said a bunch of nonsense about how it wasn't my business and what Sue should do to make it my business. They started arguing again, so I left."

"I'm really starting to regret buying her a Christmas gift," Harry sighed.

"I think it's really sweet that you got her a gift," Ginny said supportively. "What did you get her?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what to get her, so I took Sue with me and"-

"That's doomed to failure," Ron interrupted.

"Ron, don't interrupt," Ginny scolded. "You were saying?" she asked Harry.

"Sue said that Diina likes roses and diamonds. So we went to one of the jewelry shops in Hogsmeade," Harry said. "I got her a necklace with a tear-drop diamond."

The Gryffindor table suddenly exploded. Everyone except Neville was thrown back against the walls. As a result, Neville was the only one who saw Peeves slip away, laughing hysterically, obviously guilty of the explosion. The students turned to look for the source of the explosion.

"Neville!" they declared simultaneously. The professors grumbled about 'that Longbottom' except for Snape, who glared. Throughout all of that, Neville cowered.

"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed, feeling something poking into his back. He twisted around and picked up the object. "What's this?" Harry looked over to see what Ron was talking about.

"Ron, that's mine," Harry said urgently. "Give it back."

"A ring box?" Ron inquired. He opened up the little box and saw a ring with a ruby rose-shaped stone. "Wait a minute! Is this for Diina? Were you going to...propose?"

"No," Harry snapped, snatching the box. "Maybe. I don't know."

"Bloody hell! You've known her for only three months and you're ready to propose? She's been avoiding you and says she's confused about her feelings for you. And you want to propose! Are you mad?"

-

"Sue! Leave the tree alone!" Diina reprimanded. "Mince, stop eating the tinsel!"

"It's Christmas Eve. Let me have some fun," Sue said, giving the tree a gentle push so it swayed back and forth a bit.

"It's eleven o'clock, for heaven's sake. Leave so I can get some rest."

"I brought Sake."

"Stay. Let us partake of the Sake and share the Christmas spirit."

"Which one? Past, present, or future?"

"All of them. Just give me some Sake!" Diina said.

Half an hour later, Snape walked into the Slytherin common room and saw Sue asleep, draped over the back of the couch. Diina was asleep on the front of the couch with Mince on her feet. She was shivering ever so slightly, so Snape covered her with a blanket.

-

Draco stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Within the next twelve hours, Diina would open his gift. He tried to picture her face when she opened the box, but he failed miserably. His mind was preoccupied with what his father had told him concerning Diina.

-

"Wake up, sleepyhead! It's Christmas morning!" Sue screeched happily.

"Yip!" Mince added.

Diina opened her eyes. It was almost eight, according to her watch. A small pile of gifts were stacked under the tree.

"Here, this is my gift to you. Open it first," Sue commanded, handing Diina one of the gifts. Diina sat up, kicking the blanket off of her legs. She paused a moment, wondering where the blanket had come from. Deciding it didn't matter, she opened Sue's gift.

"A box of chocolates. How sweet of you!" Diina exclaimed.

"I made the chocolate myself," Sue boasted.

"I'll have some after breakfast. Now open my gift to you."

Sue ripped off the wrapping paper to discover a framed picture of a wolf howling at the moon as well as an individually wrapped bone for Mince. "See, Mince? I told you Diina loves you."

"Which one should I open next?" Diina asked. She had received five presents, including Sue's.

Sue scrutinized the pile, then made her decision. "This one! It's the biggest." She handed Diina the package, observing something odd. "Hey, it doesn't say who it's from. Hurry up and open it. Come on, rip the paper off!"

Diina complied with Sue's wishes and pulled a cloak out of the shreds of wrapping paper. It shimmered and sparkled in the light. Diina's first thought was that it was an Invisibility Cloak, but that idea was crushed when she felt the texture. She knew from the touch that it was snakeskin. "Whoever bought me this has a lot of money. You'd think they'd put their name on it, so they can brag about how much money they can spend," Diina said, standing up and putting it on.

"Something's wrong! Take it off!" Sue yelled. She was struggling to hold on to Mince, whose fur was standing straight up. Mince raised her hackles and let out a low, menacing growl. Diina hurriedly took off the cloak and tossed it into her room, shutting the door so Mince couldn't get to it. "I don't know what got into her. The second you put it on, she went berserk."

"Let's...move on," Diina replied. Continuing through the gifts, Diina discovered she had received a poppy tincture from Professor Snape (with his advice not to get caught with it), a book from Hermione (with a list of possible topics to discuss that would/should arise from reading the book), and a tear-drop diamond necklace from Harry.

"I helped him pick it out," Sue bragged. "Okay, last gift. It's from...Draco."

"In that case, I'm not opening it," Diina said, handing it back to Sue.

"Aww, c'mon. It can't hurt."

"Then you can open it."

"No, it's your gift."

"I don't want it."

"Fine. I'll just follow you all day and bug you about it until you open it to shut me up," Sue said.

"Fine. It won't bother me," Diina lied, fastening Harry's necklace around her neck.

"You really like that, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's gorgeous."

"So, what'd you get Harry?"

"I didn't send him my gift because I didn't think I was getting one from him," Diina confessed.

"You know, you could hand deliver it to him at breakfast."

-

Harry was surprised that Diina hadn't gotten him a gift for Christmas. He was sitting with Ron and Ginny at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, moping.

"I'd take this as a sign that proposal isn't a good idea," Ron said.

"Maybe she didn't have any money to buy a gift," Ginny suggested.

"She's a Slytherin. She has to have loads of money," Ron argued.

"Maybe she didn't have a chance to go shopping," Ginny tried again.

"You girls always find time to shop," Ron contradicted.

"Maybe she was too shy to give it to you," Ginny said.

"Like that would ever happen," Ron retorted.

Diina came over just then. "Here, this is for you," she told Harry, handing him a gold pocket watch with a Snitch engraved on the cover. "I...uh...didn't wrap it or anything because...oh, I don't know. Merry Christmas." She turned and left, blushing profusely.

"You were saying?" Ginny smugly asked Ron.

-

"I made an idiot of myself," Diina whined.

"That's okay. I'm sure he still loves you," Sue said. "Now, why don't you open Draco's present?"

"No."

"C'mon."

"No."

"You know you want to know what's in this box."

"No."

"Should I shake it for you?"

"No."

"Open it."

"No."

"Diina! Open it!"

"Alright," Diina snapped. "Hold the box still." While Sue held the box, Diina lifted the lid and pulled out a little card. She read over it, then dropped it, trembling. "Get that box out of my sight. I don't ever want to see it again. Is that clear?"

"Diina, what is it? What did the note say?" Sue asked curiously.

"He knows," Diina whispered.

"Knows what?"

Diina got up and left the Great Hall, leaving Sue behind, puzzling. With a shrug, Sue got up and headed for the kitchen, taking the box with her. When she got there, she set the box on a shelf and vowed not to be curious about it. Despite that vow, she constantly found herself staring at the box, wondering what was in it.

-

Diina opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. _Where am I? Oh crap! I'm in the Forbidden Forest! But how did I get here? And how long have I been here?_ The last thing Diina remembered was leaving the Great Hall and putting on her new cloak in Slytherin. _What happened after that? I...can't...seem to remember anything._ She looked at her watch. _Ten forty-three p.m.? I've been here for over twelve hours?_

She quickly decided that she was catching the flu. Every part of her seemed to ache. All her muscles screamed in protest as she sat up and pulled out her wand. Someone had to be looking for her by now. She shot sparks up into the air, then leaned back against a tree to wait. Heavy footfalls and frantic voices approached.

"The sparks came from here," McGonagall was saying. Diina found her throat was parched and began attempting to call out.

"I don't see anyone, Minerva," Snape replied.

"A monster could've pulled her farther in," McGonagall insisted.

"If we don't find her here soon, we move on," Snape said.

"I'm over here," Diina finally managed to yell. Moments later, McGonagall and Snape were crouched in front of her asking if she was alright and trying to help her up.

"Professors, I don't know how I got here," Diina defended herself immediately. "The last thing I knew, I was in Slytherin putting on this cloak. It was right after breakfast. Now it's almost eleven o'clock at night. I've lost more then twelve hours of memory," Diina said.

"You've been missing for two days," McGonagall said quietly.

"That's impossible," Diina said in shock.

"It's true," Snape replied.

"But...I...it...."

Snape and McGonagall helped Diina up to Hogwarts and left her in the Hospital wing. After she'd been laying in bed and staring at the ceiling for a good five minutes, Dumbledore came in.

"So, the lost lamb has been found," he remarked. "Why did you go into the Forest?"

"I don't know," Diina replied honestly. "My mind's a complete blank. I have no idea what I did for the past two days. You have to believe me. I really can't remember."

"I believe you Diina," Dumbledore said quietly, pulling out the Daily Prophet. "I think you'll find both front page articles...interesting." He handed the paper to Diina.

**Evil Child at Hogwarts**

An anonymous source has recently revealed that

Diina Michelle Riddle, the niece and only surviving

relative of You-Know-Who, is attending Hogwarts

School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

Diina tossed the paper down. Why bother reading the rest of the article? She knew what it would say. Many of the parents are outraged that their children are in school with that dangerous girl, she is a menace to society, blah blah blah. She remembered Dumbledore mentioning two articles, so she picked up the paper and took another look.

The second article was about the murder of two Aurors on December 26. Skimming through the article, she found her name listed as one of the suspects. The supporting evidence (other than the fact that she was related to Voldemort) was that she had "conveniently" gone missing the day before.

"How can they accuse me of that?" Diina whispered, dropping the paper. She was holding back tears.

"Can you remember anything from the last two days?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, I can't. I didn't even know it had been two days until McGonagall told me. Well, I guess that makes me a suspect."

"I think you did it," Harry said from the shadows on her left. "I had a dream where I saw you kill them."

"You should remember if you murder someone. I suppose I could've done it and then suppressed my memory, but why would I go out and kill two people I don't even know?" Diina asked.

"It could be the _Imperius_ Curse," Harry reasoned.

"So someone got into my head, forced me to kill those Aurors, and then wiped my memory of it? That has to be one powerful wizard," Diina mumbled.

"Voldemort is," Harry replied.


	18. Chapter 18: Diina's Wrath

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 18: Diina's Wrath

Diina walked out of the Hospital wing. She had been warned by Dumbledore that the Daily Prophet (and other wizarding papers and magazines) had sent reporters to Hogwarts, all of whom were waiting for her outside the Hospital wing. But no warning could have prepared her for what happened.

The second she stepped out the door, the reporters crowded in, throwing at least a dozen different questions at her at one time. During that time, photographers were taking as many snapshots as they could manage. Diina threw her arms in front of her face, hoping they wouldn't get a good picture. The reporters kept firing questions and the photographers were going snap-happy.

Suddenly, the flash of the cameras subsided and the reporters fell silent. Diina moved her arms and saw Snape standing between her and the reporters.

"She has no comment," Snape said in a soft, dangerous manner. "You have no further business here. It would be wise of you to disperse." Without waiting for them to do so, Snape grabbed Diina's arm and dragged her off to Slytherin. "Answer their questions if you want. If you don't want to, tell them you have no comment and walk away," he told her, leaving her in the common room.

Diina went to her room, took off the cloak, and reached up to feel the diamond necklace Harry had given her. (It was a habit to play with jewelry whenever she was nervous or upset.) But her fingers met her skin, not her necklace. _I'm not wearing it! I must have lost it in the Forbidden Forest! I'll never see it again!_

"Looking for this?" Malfoy drawled from the doorway. She turned and saw him holding out her necklace. "I found it outside near the front steps." She snatched it from his hand and put it back around her neck. "Nice jewel. Potter gave it to you, didn't he?"

"None of your business," she mumbled, opening her school trunk. Then she dove under her bed, gathering various articles of clothing. When she came back up, Draco was standing next to her bed. She tossed the clothes into her trunk and headed for the closet.

"Why are you packing up? You haven't been expelled," he remarked.

"I'm leaving," she replied, taking a shirt off it's hanger and tossing it in her trunk. As soon as her back was turned, Draco took the shirt and placed it back on the hanger, then returned it to the closet. He managed to do this with a few more garments before she caught on. "Stop it!"

"But you haven't been expelled."

"Damnit Draco! Go to Hell!" Diina yelled at him. He stared at her in shock and disbelief; he had never heard her use profanity before. "You ruined my life."

"I did not," he replied without thinking.

"You're the only person who would've had the audacity to tell the Daily Prophet what my real name is. There's no way I can do anything in the wizarding world. No one would hire me, everyone'll be afraid of me," Diina shot back.

"You don't have to have a job, you know," Draco said.

"Oh, of course. I could always marry you. What a capital idea! Spending the rest of my life with the one person who ruined it," returned Diina sarcastically. She was holding back tears, covering it with anger. But she was already losing her control.

"You think it's bad now? I can see to it that it's ten times worse," Draco yelled.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"To get what I want, it's as simple as that."

That comment got Diina firmly back in control of her emotions and now she was fuming. "Bastard!" And with that, she decked him. Using the _Leviosa_ charm to float her trunk, she ran out of Slytherin, heading for the doors of Hogwarts. She never got there though, because she got caught on a moving staircase. "Stupid stairs!" Diina screamed before breaking down into tears.

-

Harry was trying to forget everything. _How could I accuse her like that? And then I let her go. Snape shouldn't have been the one to save her from those reporters, I should've. And now I'm trying to run away from all my problems by flying through the halls._

He was approaching a staircase when he heard the sobs of a girl who's heart was breaking. He landed on the staircase and saw it was Diina. She was crumpled up on the stairs, crying her eyes out. He went over to her and put his hand on hands on her shoulders. She gasped and flung her head up and around to look at him, fear in her eyes. The fear melted into relief when she met his eyes. She turned around and threw herself into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. _Ten galleons says this has something to do with Malfoy._

"He told them," Diina sobbed. _Yup, _Harry thought. _It's Malfoy. Great. How am I going to get her to stop crying?_

"Would you like your big brother to go beat him up for you?" Harry asked. Diina gave a little laugh. "A laugh! There's hope for you yet." Diina burst into giggles. Finally, she managed to recover.

"I don't want my big brother to beat him up, I want my boyfriend to do it," she replied, smiling at him. Harry, embarrassed, grinned as Diina lightly kissed his dimple. The moment was perfect, until they heard a loud 'thunk!' followed by a high 'yip!'

Sue rocketed up from under the stairs on a broom with Mince. The broom began to turn up and Sue quickly found herself upside down over Diina and Harry.

"BONZAI!" Sue cried, letting go of the broom, which headed back to Madam Hooch's office. Sue and Mince crashed onto the staircase on Harry and Diina. Mince was just fine and immediately started licking Diina's face.

" 'Ue! Geroff!" Harry mumbled. Diina shoved Mince aside to see why Harry was mumbling.

"SUE! GET YOUR BOOBS OFF HARRY'S FACE BEFORE I KILL YOU!" Diina screamed.

"Sorry 'bout that Harry," Sue said, rolling off of Harry. "Wasn't intentional. I wouldn't do something like that cuz I know how uptight Diina can get when you come on to her lovers."

"YOU BI"-

"Not like she's had any lovers, but she's the kinda girl who'd be upset about it. I'm really sorry I messed up that bonzai, but I hit my head on the stairs as I was flying by," Sue explained.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"You're gonna have to get in line. I stole the broom from Madam Hooch and I can see her coming now," Sue said, looking down one of the corridors at a fast approaching figure. "Gotta go!" And with that, Sue scurried off.

"Get back here, you thieving miscreant!" Madam Hooch yelled. Suddenly a water balloon collided with Madam Hooch and drenched her. "Peeves, you asinine"- she stopped there, realizing she couldn't use the words she wanted to because students were present. "You menace!" Peeves bowed low, then laughed as he slid down through the floor.

-

_She packs a hell of a punch,_ Draco thought as he woke up, lying on the floor in the girls' room. _She'll give me a rough time in bed, that's for sure. I can't wait. The sooner, the better. I could use the excitement._


	19. Chapter 19: Diina's First Quidditch Mat...

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 19: Diina's First Quidditch Match

Harry ran to catch up with Diina. The weather had finally let up enough to have a Quidditch match. The past two months had been far too windy for a match, so Harry was particularly excited about this match. "Hey Diina! Wait up!" She waited for him, smiling and blushing. "It's our first match today and, even though you're Slytherin, I was hoping you'd cheer for me."

"well, I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but..." Diina said hesitantly, "I'm one of Slytherin's new Chasers, so I'll be playing too."

"Well, good luck then," Harry said, a bit shocked that a girl was on the Slytherin team."

"You too." Her smile said she wanted to win, but knew she wouldn't.

-

This is my last year," Draco told the team gravely. "It will not be a total disgrace like the years before. Is that clear?"

"We get you," Diina replied. "With the exception of our Beaters, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber, we understand."

"I'm counting on you to get us a lot of points," Draco told her.

"Goody," she sarcastically replied.

They filed out onto the Quidditch pitch. When Gryffindor met Slytherin, Madam Hooch told them to keep it clean, then had the team captains shake hands. Harry and Draco exchanged looks that said, "My team is going to slaughter yours". The teams mounted up and took to the sky.

"The Quaffle is claimed immediately by Virginia Weasley of Gryffindor. This is her second year on the team. She performed spectacularly last year, hopefully she can keep it up. Weasley passes to Seamus Finnigan—but it's intercepted by Diina Riddle. She's rocketing towards Gryffindor goal posts; I don't think Keeper Ronald Weasley can stop her. Riddle has a close call with a Bludger, directed at her by...Slytherin Beater Gregory Goyle? What the hell are you thinking? That's your own teammate, you son of a"-

"SPIVEY!" McGonagall reprimanded. Sandrielle Spivey, a Third-year Gryffindor, was the new commentator of the Quidditch matches.

"Sorry Professor. The stupidity of some people really irks me. Colin Creevey passes to Finnigan, Finnigan passes to Weasley...she shoots...but it's blocked by Slytherin Keeper Wesley Sipes. Sipes throws it in to Rufus Hobson, a new addition to Slytherin's team this year. As a matter of fact, all of Slytherin's Chasers are new to the team. Hobson passes to Slytherin Posco Jeters, Jeters passes to Riddle..she shoots...and scores. Ten points for Slytherin. What the--? Gryffindor Beater Denis Creevey saves Riddle from a Bludger to the head, sent by Slytherin Beater Vincent Crabbe. What a bunch of dumb asses!"

"SPIVEY!"

"Well, it's true Professor. And I've been taught that honesty is the best policy."

"Please keep the truth to yourself, or we'll find a new commentator."

"Grouchy old woman. Anyway, Finnigan's got the Quaffle now—he passes to Creevey—Creevey back to Finnigan—he shoots—HE SCORES! TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

-

Diina was ready to ask Denis for his bat and start sending the Bludgers back to Crabbe and Goyle. _Thank God for Denis. Without him, I'd be in the Hospital wing with a bashed in skull_. She flew around until she found Draco.

"Call a time out," Diina demanded.

"What're you doing?" he asked. "You're a Chaser. Go score points."

"Call a time out or I'll quit. Then you'll forfeit the game."

With obvious displeasure, he requested a time out, then had the team gather around him. "Apparently Diina is having a problem of some kind. As I see it, there are two possibilities. One, she's got her thong in a twist, or two, you guys are giving her a hard time."

Diina reached over as though she was about to put her arm around Draco, then grabbed the back of his neck, squeezing hard. "My panties are none of your business," she hissed. "Let's see you wear a thong all day without complaining."

"So your thong is the problem."

"No, you dolt! Tell your goons to let me keep my head," she snapped. "When I get the Quaffle, they attempt to kill me."

"Crabbe! Goyle! Explain this," Draco snapped.

"You told us to"- Goyle began. Crabbe nudged him in the ribs. "I mean, we don't like having a girl on the team. Girls are weak, fragile. It's too dangerous for them."

"Ready to resume play?" Madam Hooch asked, coming up behind them.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," Diina sighed. Shortly after they resumed the match, Diina got the Quaffle. As she was speeding towards the goal posts, she heard Spivey mention something about the Snitch, but she shoved it to the back of her mind as she scored ten more points for Slytherin.

Diina would never clearly remember the next few minutes at the end of the match. Somehow, she'd ended up next to Harry (who'd caught the Snitch) when something collided with the left side of her head, throwing off her broom and right into Harry's arms. The edges of her vision went black as she looked into his eyes.

"Diina, are you alright?" Harry's voice sounded distant. "Just don't close your eyes." She wasn't sure how it happened, but it seemed as though Harry was gently laying her in a bed in the Hospital wing seconds after she'd fallen into his arms. As her eyes slid shut, Diina heard Madam Pomfrey mention something about a concussion...


	20. Chapter 20: What Happened in the Forbid...

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from Harry Potter. I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

Chapter 20: What Happened in the Forbidden Forest

Diina woke up and saw Harry asleep in a chair next to her bed. A glance at her watch told her it was nine o'clock, and another glance out the window told her it was night. She sat up and saw that Harry's left hand was resting on her bed. Taking his hand in hers, she softly called to him until he awoke.

"So you finally woke up," he whispered with a yawn.

"How long was I asleep?" Diina asked.

"About six hours," Harry replied.

After Madam Pomfrey had looked her over and proclaimed her good to go, Harry escorted Diina down to Slytherin. She had an arm around his shoulders and he had an arm around her waist to support her because her legs trembled so badly. At Slytherin, he reluctantly handed her over to Draco.

As Draco and Diina made their way across the common room, Diina's legs gave out. She grabbed the neck of his robes to keep from falling and discovered a love bite on his neck.

"Who gave you that?" asked Diina. "It looks awful. You can tell she broke the skin. You should see Madam Pomfrey before it gets infected."

"It's fine," he replied.

"No, it's not. Seriously, who gave you that?"

"I don't think you'll like the answer."

"Stop thinking and just answer."

"Fine," Draco snapped. "You gave it to me Diina."

"That's absolutely ridiculous," said Diina. "I would never get close enough to do that."

"You certainly got close enough in the Forbidden Forest. And before you ask, yes, I know what happened in the Forbidden Forest those two days that you can't remember."

"Really?" Diina said skeptically. "Enlighten me then."

"You won't be able to handle it."

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot handle."

"You were escorted from the forest to Malfoy Manor on December 25th by a few Deatheaters. On December 26th, you proved yourself worthy of being Voldemort's heir by killig two Aurors. And on the afternoon of December 27th, I had my way with you before taking you back to the Forbidden Forest," Draco told her.

"You're lying," she whispered, tears in her eyes.

"If you want proof, I could always describe the strawberry-shaped birthmark under your left breast. Well, it looked like a strawberry to me, anyway." Draco dropped her onto the couch. "I could take you through her afternoon together step by step, if you wish."

Diina was still weak from her concussion. If he tried anything, she would be unable to defend herself. He got on top of her and gently kissed her forehead as he undid her Quidditch robes.

"BONZAI!" Sue yelled, leaping out of the shadows and landing on Draco's back.

"YIP!" Mince barked, leaping after Sue. As soon as she landed, Mince did her best to lick Draco's face, wagging her tail with joy.

"Hiya Diina! I brought your broom," Sue said, holding Diina's broom in the air triumphantly. "During the game, I stole a broom from Madam Hooch's office (it was the perfect time; she wasn't there) so I could watch you play. I flewed to the pitch and saw that Bludger hit you, then Harry caught you but your broom was falling. So I decided to catch it so it wouldn't hit the ground and smash into pieces."

"I'm sure my broom thanks you and thinks you're a great hero," Diina replied. "And I might feel the same way if you weren't helping Draco make a lasting impression on me—literally."

"Huh?" Sue asked. Then it dawned on her that she was squishing Draco into Diina. "Oops. Sorry." She climbed off him.

"I didn't mind," Draco mumbled.

"Well of course you didn't," Diina retorted. "You weren't the one on the bottom being crushed beneath the combined weight of Sue and yourself."

"By the by, I think you asked for this, Draco," Sue said, pulling a small box out of her pocket as Draco got off of Diina.

"Sue, I told you I didn't ever want to see that again," snapped Diina.

"Um...okay...uh, Diina, close your eyes for a minute, 'kay?" Sue stood between Diina and the box to ensure that Diina wouldn't have to see the box. "Here you go, Draco. Wrap it in different paper of something so Diina won't recognize it."

"I heard that Sue," Diina said, sitting up on the couch and grabbing for Sue's throat to choke the demon. Diina found Mince in her hands. _How did Sue do that? One minute she's right in front of me, and the next, she's gone and left the dog in her place_.

(Sue was currently running around the room, dancing, singing, and breaking things.)

Draco took Mince out a bewildered Diina's hands and placed the pup in her lap. Then he took her hands in his. "I'm sorry I only sent it to you. I should have done it in person," he said, kneeling in front of her. "Diina Michelle Riddle, will you marry me?" He held out the open box to her. She knew that inside was a necklace with a black rose (the Malfoy family insignia). The bud of the rose was obsidian, and the stem was made of a deep green emerald. The charm hung on a silver chain. It was the tradition Malfoy engagement gift. He'd told her that in the note that had come with the gift.

_Somehow, this isn't how I pictured this. Sue running around being destructive, a warm, fuzzy, cuddly puppy in my lap," _Diina thought. _I pictured it with just me and my boyfriend. Maybe after a romantic candlelight dinner. Harry's eyes look so perfect in that vision. If Harry proposed, I'd say "yes" in an instant. I'd thought I'd feel that way with Draco, but I'm just not sure. Harry's shy, innocent, and sweet, not to mention good-looking. Draco is charming, bold, experienced, and drop-dead gorgeous._


	21. Chapter 21: Sue meets Peeves Thus the W...

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 21: Sue meets Peeves; Thus the War Begins

It was too boring to watch. Draco was waiting patiently for Diina's answer and, as Sue knew, Diina was lost in her logical mind, weighing the pros and cons of marrying Draco. So Sue decided to wander the halls and terrorize the innocent, non-bonzaied population. She went over to Diina, took Mince, and whispered in Diina's ear, "Remember your horoscope." Then she left Slytherin.

_This isn't good,_ Sue thought. _She'll feel pressured to make a decision. Ooh, that looks like a good place to jump from_. She climbed up on top of a statue, taking Mince with her. After an hour, she had bonzaied a Ravenclaw and two Hufflepuffs, and after bonzaing each person, told them that they shouldn't be wandering the corridors at this time of night and they should return to their Houses before Filch found them. _I should prolly go find Harry and tell him that Malfoy proposed_, Sue was thinking. _Bonzai-ing is much more fun at the moment, though._

Sitting on a gargoyle, Sue saw someone she had not bonzaied. She lay in wait, eagerly anticipating the adrenaline rush that came every time she jumped. _Target in range,_ Sue thought while jumping and screaming, "BONZAI!"

She hit the floor with a loud 'thump', Mince right behind her. _How could I miss? I never miss! Nobody makes a fool of Sue! I can do that by myself, I don't need any help. Ooh, he's gonna get it!_

"Listen mister. I don't know who think you are," Sue began, "but nobody, and I mean nobody, gets away without being bonzaied by me."

"You'll never get Peeves," Peeves cackled.

"The fact that I slip right through you does present a problem. But I'll find a way around it. I'll getcha if it's the last thing I do." Peeves produced a few ink bottles. "Don't you throw those at me!"

Peeves didn't listen. While dodging ink bottles, Sue yelled multitudes of bad words and Mince barked menacingly. Peeves floated away through the ceiling once he finished throwing things; the hall was covered in ink and Filch was coming down the hall with a mighty roar.

"Get back here! I'm not finished with you," Sue shouted angrily. "Fine! Flee like a coward. But be warned. This is war!"

-

Harry was having a dream that he was fighting with Malfoy. At the moment, Harry was winning. Malfoy launched a surprise attack, ramming Harry in the stomach and knocking him to the ground. Malfoy perched there, a malicious smirk on his face.

"Harry, wake up. I need to talk to you," Malfoy said in Sue's voice, promptly slapping Harry.

Harry blinked and found himself in his dark room with Sue sitting on his stomach, prepared to slap him again if he didn't wake up. He groped his bedside table until he found his glasses and jammed them on his nose. "What do you need Sue?" he yawned.

"There's two things. I wanted to know if I could borrow your Invisibility Cloak. Can I?" Sue asked.

"Depends. What do you want it for?"

"I'd like to sneak around, primarily in Snape's office, and not be seen. Peeves and me are at war, see, and I wanna wreak havoc unseen."

"Oh, well, in that case, no. What's the other thing?"

"It's...um...I'm thinking...I know it's in here somewhere...uh...got it! Wait, no, I don't got it...ummm..."

"Did it have something to do with Diina?"

"Yes! Yes, it did! Something very important happened with her...um...it was...oh, I can't remember! All I can think about is getting Peeves."

"Did it have something to do with Malfoy?"

"Yes! Yes, it did! I got it now. Malfoy proposed to her. And she was seriously considering it. She's gonna feel pressured to make a decision asap, so her judgment will be clouded."

"Listen, if she's going to choose Malfoy...well, what am I supposed to do about it?"

"Diina likes you," Sue said condescendingly. "So get in there and give her some. Or something. Kiss her, hold her, take her to a candlelight dinner and casually slip your arm around her, buy her roses, gentleman stuff."

"Do you really have to discuss this in the middle of the night?" Ron grumbled.

"Malfoy'll put moves like that on her," Sue continued, acting as though Ron hadn't even spoken. "So you have to do the same. Otherwise Diina'll think you don't love her and choose Malfoy. See, Diina's a little confused right now, but not too confused to make a decision. Put you making moves on her in the mix, and she'll be so confused she'll keep delaying making a choice. You and Malfoy are in a fight for Diina's love. Good luck."

"Why are all my dreams prophetic?" Harry mumbled. "Good night Sue."

"But what about"-

"Good night Sue!"

"Sure I can't borrow your clo"-

"GOOD NIGHT SUE!"

"'Night Harry. Don't forget what I said."

Sue left and Harry fell back into dreams. He was surrounded by darkness. Diina stood in front of him in a simple white dress. She reached for his hand, but something seemed to be holding her back. Malfoy appeared and wrapped his arms around Diina's waist, then disappeared, taking her with him.

Harry woke up and trudged out to the common room, prepared to think the rest of the night away.

-

"Alright, I've brought it to a boil," Sue said in Snape's office. He had left a cauldron simmering over low heat, and Sue had quickly changed that. She absently brushed some hair off her clothes, turning her back to grab some ingredients off shelves and ignoring the hiss of the concoction as the hairs dropped into it.

Dumping in various amounts of the ingredients she had chosen, Sue located a vial. She collected a sample of her creation and stuck the vial in her pocket. Then she chose another ingredient and poured it into the brew.

"Uh-oh," Sue mumbled as the potion began to bubble madly. By the time the creation exploded, splattering the room with its contents, Sue was long gone.

-

"My office is ruined," Snape yelled the next morning. "It's being eaten by acid!"

"Severus, I'm aware of this," Dumbledore said patiently. "And a staff member has come forward with information regarding the destruction of your office."

"Bring them in! If my suspicions are correct, Peeves or Potter will be named the culprit," Snape said.

"BONZAI!" came the battle cry of Sue as she leapt from the top of a bookcase and crash-landed on Snape. "You wanna know who wrecked your office? It was...me! Chalk one up for Sue! Zero for Peeves! As of now, I'm winning the war!" With that, Sue took off.


	22. Chapter 22: Love Is In the Air

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 22: Love Is In the Air

Harry stood at attention in the Gryffindor locker rooms, dressed in his Quidditch robes. Sue faced him, with the stance of a drill sergeant.

"Your time has come," Sue began seriously. "We have practiced for the whole month of January in anticipation of this day. Things will be in position at the appropriate time. Now go out there and show me what you're made of, soldier." She turned and marched out to her seat in the stands.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked. "We're only taking on Ravenclaw."

"She's made the match sound like a war," Ginny added.

-

"Would you two just quit it?" Diina snapped. Draco, on her left, would slip his arm around her and Sue, on her right, would quickly remove his arm from Diina. "I'm trying to watch the match."

"No, you're watching Potter," Draco snapped back, snaking his arm around her yet again.

"It's none of your business who I watch. And if you don't like it, then don't watch me watch him!" Diina replied as Sue freed her from Draco. "If you put your arm around me one more time, I'll rip it off."

Draco dropped into his seat and seethed angrily, plotting Potter's demise. Naturally, this was all Potter's fault.

"Potter's got the Snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Spivey crowed.

"You know Draco, if you watched Harry, you might learn how to catch the Snitch," Diina jeered, not taking her eyes off Harry. She never saw Sue's malicious grin, and never realized that Sue was sneaking up behind her. All she saw was Harry rocketing towards her on his Firebolt. Sue gave her a push forward and Diina instinctively threw her hands up to catch herself. What she caught was Harry's arm as he snatched her up out of the stands.

"Mission complete!" Sue crowed. "All that practice paid off. He did so well, I'll have to forgive him for all the times he dropped me."

-

Harry knew that the moment he snatched Diina, every camera would be on them. Photographers from the Daily Prophet, the Quibbler, and other newspapers and magazines had been banned from the castle, but they were still permitted to attend the Quidditch matches. And when he hefted Diina onto his broom and gave her a passionate kiss, what seemed to be a thousand flashes surrounded them as the photographers captured the shocking moment when Voldemort's greatest enemy publicly showed his love for Voldemort's niece.


	23. Chapter 23: Sue's Potion, Day One

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 23: Sue's Potion, Day One

"BONZAI!" crowed Sue, jumping off a particularly hideous stone gargoyle in a darkened, disused hallway. Mince was right behind her with a mighty "YIP!", then vigorously licked Draco's face.

"Stupid wench," Draco hissed at Sue.

"That was so sweet! Thanks," Sue said and, having no clue what 'wench' meant, got up to dance around him in a circle and sing a song she had just invented about being a stupid wench. She paused in the middle of a spin, the word she was singing dying instantaneously. "What are you doing in this hallway?"

"None of your business," he replied.

"I'll bet your avoiding Diina. Is she and Harry making out again?" Sue asked eagerly. She gave him no time to reply. "Where? Where? Tell me where!"

"I'm not avoiding Diina, I'm avoiding everyone."

"Why?"

"You don't care."

"Yes I do. Now tell me or I'll hang you on a hook."

"It's my birthday, okay?" Draco snapped. He hated it when people made a big deal about his birthday.

"Oh! Happy Birthday!"

"That's exactly what I didn't want to hear."

"Hey," Sue said, reaching into a hidden pocket and pulling out the vial of her creation, "we can have a birthday toast! To a long and happy life which, if my suspicions are correct, will end very shortly after you drink this." She shoved the vial in his mouth and he'd swallowed a fourth of the concoction before he could pull away. Sue downed another fourth. "Yum!" Then she corked it and ran off, Mince trailing behind her.

-

"Hiya Diina," Sue said, sitting next to her in the beginning of Potions. "I bonzaied Draco this morning and he told me it's his birthday."

"Sue, Potions is about to start. And in case you forgot, Snape's got it in for you for what you did to his office," Diina whispered.

"Oh, that reminds me. You weren't present for the birthday toast," Sue said, pulling out her vial and forcing Diina to gulp down a fourth of her brew.

-

"BONZAI!" Sue hollered, tackling Harry.

"YIP!" Mince added, following Sue.

"Sue, I'm late for Potions," Harry complained.

"Lucky you! You've bumped into me and I just happen to be in a giving mood, so you can have the last of Sue's Super Special Birthday Brew." She thrust the vial between his lips and the last of her creation belonged to Harry. She then tossed the empty vial aside and scampered away with Mince.

-

As Diina, Sue, Harry, and Draco fell asleep that night, they noticed nothing different or unusual. But in the morning, their worlds were strange.

-

Sue woke up in the morning, but didn't open her eyes right away. She had been given a room of her own. However, this morning she heard someone snoring. And she didn't feel Mince beside her. She was extremely hungry, but that was normal. She opened her eyes and found herself in the Slytherin dormitories. Everything around her looked fuzzy. _How'd I get into Diina's room? And where's Diina?_

-

Draco woke up and looked for the clock on his bedside table. Things were so fuzzy, he had to bring the clock within inches of his face to see it. _I don't know why things are so damn fuzzy. Where the hell am I anyway?_

-

When Harry awoke, he reached for his glasses on his table. He paused with his hand halfway to the table because he had just realized that everything was crystal clear to his eyes. Including his suddenly and unusually pale hand. _What the_-

-

Diina clung to sleep as best she could, but just a moment ago she had felt something lying on her stomach. The only possibility she could come up with was that someone had laid their head on her stomach, and if it was Draco, she would draw and quarter him. She decided to give up on sleep and opened her eyes to see what it was. She first noticed she was far more buxom than before. _When did I grow these melons?!_ Next, Diina realized that she was alone in a strange room. This was followed by the fact that she could see without her glasses.

Diina jumped up (startling the thing on her stomach, which turned out to be Mince) and ran over to the mirror. The reflection staring back at her frightened her.

"Dear God! I've turned into Sue!" she wailed.

-

Sue grabbed Diina's glasses off the bedside table and rammed them on her nose, certain Diina wouldn't mind Sue borrowing her glasses until Sue solved her newly acquired eye problem. She also helped herself to Diina's clothes, never pausing to glance at the mirror. The girls kept talking to Diina (even though Diina wasn't in the room), so Sue headed for the common room, convinced the girls were not all there.

"Diina!" Draco called, jumping up from a couch and running over. He stopped in front of Sue. "Diina, I know"-

"Silly head! Can't you tell that I'm Sue?" she asked.

"Wait. If I'm Malfoy and you're Diina, then...Diina must be in your body and Malfoy's in mine!"

"Malfoy, you're getting as weird as the girls in Diina's room," Sue said.

"Sue, have you looked in a mirror today?"

"Don't look in mirrors. If you look into a mirror on a night when the moon is full, you'll be sucked in and trapped for eternity," Sue responded.

"Sue, it was your potion! You look like Diina and I, Harry, look like Malfoy."

"So my potion did something to us after all! I thought it was a dud," Sue crowed.

-

Diina practically skipped down the hall. Being Sue suited her purposes at the moment. She had something very important to tell Harry and this was her opportunity. Sue would blab it out and run away. So Diina, in imitation of Sue, would tell Harry and dash off without having to deal with Harry's reaction. Diina was quite pleased with her plan. If only she had known...

Hoping to convincingly play the part of Sue, Diina was perched atop a gargoyle waiting for Harry to come past so she could bonsai him. Most of the Gryffindors had gone by on their way to breakfast, including Ron and Hermione, but Harry hadn't been seen yet.

Then, all of a sudden, there he was, coming around the corner. Diina watched him get closer...closer...closer...

"Bonzai!" she cried weakly, leaping off the statue. She hit the floor with a loud thump, having jumped a moment too soon. She lay sprawled at Harry's feet.

"Sue? Are you"-

"I'm fine," Diina declared, springing up in a Sue-like fashion. "I...guess I'm just a bit off today. Hey, I just found out something from Diina. You'll never guess what she told me..."

-

"Diina's packed on some weight," Sue commented. "See Harry?" Sue lifted her shirt enough to expose her lower abdomen.

"Sue, that's not 'some weight'," Harry said awkwardly in Draco's voice.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Diina is, uh...pregnant."

"How do you know? Did she tell you? She didn't tell me. She told me she had something important to tell you, but she wouldn't tell me what it was. How dare she keep this from me?!"

"She didn't tell me. But that's not where you'd put on weight merely because you gained a few pounds."

"Oh, okay, if you say so," Sue said. "You know, she'll prolly tell you today that she's gonna have a bouncing baby brat."

-

Draco knew this wasn't Sue. The imposter was doing a good job of pretending, though.

-

Diina had just broken the news, whirling around to leave before she saw his reaction. That's when she saw herself (well, Sue in her body) running up with Draco. She made inaudible noises, realizing that Harry and Draco must have switched bodies, due to the fact that Sue would never go anywhere with Draco.

"Diina, don't tell him anything," Harry yelled with Draco's voice.

"Little late on that one, Potter," Draco replied with a smirk that looked horribly sinister on Harry's face. Draco grabbed Diina's arm, and instinctively Diina jerked her arm out of his grasp, throwing him face-first into the floor.

Sue ran forward, eager to get into the fight. Draco had recovered from being thrown to the floor and pushed her aside. Harry, infuriated, whipped out his (well, actually Draco's) wand and Draco followed suit. Diina, who had rushed over to Sue, readied herself to run back in and punch Draco's lights out, apologizing to Harry for damaging his face as she did so. But Sue stopped her.

"Let them. They need to know which one of them will have you," Sue said.

"The strongest takes it all," Diina mumbled, watching Harry and Draco fire hexes at each other.

"What do you think you're doing there?" Filch shouted, appearing the corridor. "Stop that!" He had to duck as a hex came sailing at him. Luckily, Professor Snape appeared on the scene.

"Potter! What do you think you are doing?" Snape cried, outraged. "_Expelliarmus!_"

"Snape, you bastard," Draco yelled back at him as he lost his wand.

"What did you...50 points from Gryffindor!"

"Professor, that's not fair," Harry cried. Snape turned to stare at him while Draco let another one of those smirks distort Harry's good looks. Realizing how odd it would sound to have Malfoy sticking up for him, he added hastily, "It should be at least 100." He silently cursed himself for suggesting Gryffindor lose that many points.

"I will decide the punishment, Malfoy," Snape replied.

"What's going on?" McGonagall asked, coming on the scene.

"Potter attacked Malfoy," Snape exclaimed.

"I'll sort out this end of it, Severus," McGonagall said, sending him to check on Sue and Diina.

"Sue," Snape said, disgusted at the idea of talking with her, "are you alright?" To his surprise it was Diina (or so he thought) that responded.

"I'm fine. Might wanna check on Diina though. She was about ready to punch Draco to death. Would've broken his glasses," she remarked.

"Sue! Shut up," the girl who looked and sounded like Sue hissed, as Snape began to comprehend the situation.

-

As Harry listened to McGonagall's lecture, he realized that if Malfoy could get points taken from Gryffindor in Harry's name, then he could reverse the situation.

"Stuff it," he yelled at McGonagall.

"Malfoy? What did you"- McGonagall started.

"I told you to shut up, you ugly old hag." He quickly covered his mouth, realizing that if Malfoy revealed their predicament, McGonagall would make his life hell.

"Fifty points from Slytherin," she responded.

"Somehow, these girls have switched bodies," Snape said to McGonagall, coming over to her. "Perhaps the boys..."

"Erm, sorry about those...comments, Professor," Harry drawled with Draco's voice.

"Filch, don't you have other duties to attend to?" Snape asked icily. Filch hurried off. "Who's fault is this?"

"It's all me!" Sue shouted with Diina's voice. "Wasn't that awesome? See, it was Draco's birthday yesterday, but he didn't want anyone to know it, so as a birthday toast I had him, Diina, Harry, and me drink my potion, remember that potion I made that melted your office? Anyways, we woke up like this and then we came running here to tell Diina not to tell Draco that she's preg"-

Draco and Harry raised their wands as Diina grabbed hers from Sue's pocket, shouting, "_Silencio!_" simultaneously. Sue continued trying to talk, but to no avail.

"What she's saying is that the boys got into a duel. We're all feeling rather poorly," Diina lied. "We should be in the Hospital wing."

The four of them spent the day in seclusion while Snape tried to figure out what exactly it was that Sue had concocted, but his search produced no results.


	24. Chapter 24: Sue's Potion, Day Two

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from Harry Potter. I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

Sorry this chapter took so long to get up, thank you for being patient and not sending me a ton of emails complaining. Thanks to Corporal Spivilles and savetheduckplz for their support and the help they gave for this chapter.

Chapter 24: Sue's Potion, Day 2

Diina was overjoyed to wake up in her own body the next morning in the room adjoining the Hospital wing that she shared with Sue. The boys were in another room, and Diina had no doubt that they would go at each other's throat when they woke up this morning. One of the two would emerge from that room alive and victorious, his claim over Diina now permanent. She was reluctant to wake either one of them, but she wanted to talk to Draco privately.

Diina crept into the boys' room. Harry was sprawled out over his bed, one leg dangling off the edge. Draco was curled up like a cat. _They are exact opposites, like night and day. I love Harry because he's so much like me. And yet, I love Draco because he's the exact opposite. Why does love have to be so complicated?_

She quickly cast a spell to ensure that Harry would sleep soundly for another half hour. That should be enough time for her to talk with Draco. Not wanting to take any chances though, she put a hand over Draco's mouth as she shook his shoulder. He jerked awake and began thrashing around, panic in his eyes. The second he realized it was her, he calmed down.

"We need to talk," she whispered, letting go of him and leading Draco out of the castle and down to the lakeshore. He stood, leaning against a tree, but Diina opted to sit on the grass, facing him. "What I said yesterday about being pregnant was all a lie." Draco quirked an eyebrow. "I just wanted to see if Harry's love was unconditional, that's all."

"So why did Sue and Potter come running to stop you from saying anything?" Draco inquired.

"I told Sue I was going to make up that story, and she probably mentioned it to Harry. Knowing you'd think it was true, they came to stop me," Diina lied.

Without a word, he went around behind her, dropped to his knees, and put his chin on her shoulder. "I think you're lying," he whispered. His warm breath tickled her ear and made her shiver. He gently nibbled on her ear and she fell back into his arms, unable to hold herself up. Draco turned her and pulled her up against him. He kissed her gently at first, but as it increased in intensity, it increased in roughness. _Do I really love him?_ He pulled away.

"No. This isn't love," she whispered.

"How do you know it's not?" Draco replied softly.

That was just the problem. She didn't know. She'd never been in love before, so how could she tell?

-

"WAKE UP!" Sue shouted at Harry. He sprang awake. "Diina and Malfoy disappeared."

Without a word to Sue, Harry charged out of the Hospital wing, and followed his instincts to the lakeshore. Malfoy was laying Diina down on the ground when Harry reached them and tapped Malfoy on the shoulder. When he turned to look, Harry decked him.

Hauling Malfoy to his feet, Harry continued to pound the jerk until he was certain Malfoy would have two marvelously black eyes. Releasing that filthy, bad excuse for a human, Harry helped Diina up. Ashamed of what he'd caught her doing, she turned her back on him and started to walk away.

"Are you alright?" he asked, stopping her in her tracks.

"I...guess so," Diina replied, not turning around to face him.

Harry spun Diina around and gently forced her to look at him. He could feel himself shaking, adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

"Diina...I think it's about time you made a final decision," he said, a tremor in his voice. He was frightened of what she'd say, if she did make a choice. _She'll pick me...she has to pick me. How could she pick him over me?_ He shuddered to even think of that possibility, and instead stared her right in the eyes, trying desperately to convince her completely of his love for her.

-

Diina tried to look away quickly before Harry spoke, but as soon as he said the words, she found herself unable to look away. She felt Draco's eyes on her and tried to speak. Nothing came out at first; her voice seemed to have failed her. She cleared her throat roughly.

"Harry...I-I don't...now is that really fair?" she asked, her voice becoming high-pitched and stressed. _How can he ask that of me? Doesn't he know what I'm going through?_

Draco scowled darkly and touched his face gingerly before shoving Harry away from Diina and pulling her over to him. "I believe she already has chosen," he said softly. "In light of what you interrupted, of course, I think it's safe to assume."

Harry's hands curled into fists and his body began to shake again, but he bit his lip and suppressed the urge to pummel the git more than he already had. Instead, he focused on Diina's face (blocking out Draco's arm around her waist) and fixed her with a grim stare. "Can't you see what you're doing, Diina?" he said, taking a step closer to her so that he could whisper. Draco recoiled slightly, but didn't loosen his hold on Diina.

"What do you mean what I'm doing, Harry?" Diina asked warily, eyeing him with a suspicious air.

"You're driving me crazy, Diina! One minute, it seems like you're mine, and the next you're running off to the lakeside with that git!" Harry said fiercely, pointing at Draco. "I just don't understand it! I love you, Diina, and- please, please just make up your mind! I can't take it anymore! I can't deal with it, I can't, but if I know that you aren't really mine I might be able to keep some scrap of my sanity! I'm begging you, Diina, just make a choice! I don't care who you choose, I just want you to be happy, but you've got to make a choice, you've got to. I'm falling apart not knowing!"

Diina watched Harry as he stood before her, trembling, and felt tears welling up in her eyes. It was obvious that he was in pain, and she felt terrible. He was right, she had done this to him, all because of her own indecision. She sighed heavily. It was true; it seemed the time had finally come for her to choose. She didn't want to, but there was no way out of it – she couldn't stand the look on Harry's face. She dragged in a deep breath and willed herself to say what was in her mind.

"I choose neither of you," she said softly, giving no trace of emotion in her voice. "I won't make a promise unless my heart's one hundred percent behind it. I don't know where my heart is right now, but you wanted a decision, so there it is. I choose neither." She tried to walk away, but Draco held onto her tightly. She whipped out her wand and put it to his temple. "You forget I'm the niece of a Dark Lord. Let go or I'll curse you to oblivion," she hissed, anger distorting her features. She narrowed her eyes and it was only then that Harry could see her resemblance to Voldemort.

"You have to help me," Sue screeched, appearing out of nowhere and grabbing Draco, yanking him away from Diina (who stormed up to the castle). "Mince is gone! I can't find her anywhere! Mince really loves you and I'm sure if you call her, she'll come. You have to help me!"

"I don't care about your dumb mutt, stupid wench," Draco hissed, trying to free himself.

"She's the only friend I have to talk to. I need her," Sue wailed, tightening her grip on him.

"What about Diina?" Harry asked, inwardly wincing at the previous conversation with Diina.

"She won't wanna talk, I saw her face. You two made her cry," Sue commented.

"You see what you've done, Potter?" Draco snapped. "She was mine until you had to interrupt us and ask her to choose."

"There's no way in Hell that she ever has been or ever will be yours," Harry shot back.

"I would think that her carrying my child would imply that she's mine," Draco returned.

"It implies you took advantage of her."

"You can't take advantage of someone who's willing."

Sue, quite impatient of being ignored in the middle of her dog-crisis, punched Draco to get his attention. However, she must have punched a bit too hard, for she knocked him unconscious. "Oops. Oh well, let's go search for Mince," Sue said, dragging Draco's unconscious body towards the castle.

-

Harry sat under the tree by the lake. He realized it was the tree he had found Diina under that one night. His tears fell slowly, but steadily. _Why did I push her like that? Because I was going crazy not knowing. I guess they don't say "madly in love" for nothing. Was my sanity worth more than her?_

Rain began pouring down and Harry tried to remember if there had been rain clouds a few moments ago. He couldn't recall any, but that didn't mean that there hadn't been. The surface of the lake began to swirl as Harry sat there, getting drenched. Finally, the fact that he was getting wet registered in his brain, so he went back into Hogwarts, hoping he could find a good place to hide before Ron and Hermione found him and asked him what was going on.

It took him a moment to realize he heard music, and the words formed in his head.

_All alone on a Sunday morning. Outside the rain is falling, falling, inside I'm slowly dying. But the rain will hide my crying, crying, crying. And you...don't you know my tears will burn the pillow, set this place on fire?..._

He'd found quite a convenient dark and disused side corridor and began making his way down it, still thinking of the words of the song.

_...I gave you my love in vain. My body never knew such pleasure, my heart never knew such pain. And you, you leave me so confused. Now I'm all cried out over you..._

Harry discovered an almost invisible door and decided that would be the best place to hide and lament, the sad song echoing through him.

..._For why was I such a fool? Now I see that the grass is greener. Is it too late to find my way home? How could I be so wrong? Leaving me all alone, don't you know my tears will cause an inferno. Romance of these flames, why should I take the blame? You were the one who left me neglected, apology not accepted. Add me to the broken hearts you've collected. I gave you all of me. How was I to know you would weaken so easily? I don't know what to do. Now I'm all cried out over you. I gave you my love in vain. My body never knew such pleasure, my heart never knew such pain. And you, you left me confused. Now I'm all cried out, now I'm all cried out over you..._

It was at that moment that Harry heard a whimpering. Investigating a dark corner of the room, he found Mince chained up. "Who did this to you?" he mumbled, reaching to unchain her. That's when Peeves appeared, knocking Harry aside and making off with Mince.

-

Diina had found a convenient closet to hide in after capturing Mrs. Norris to ensure that she wouldn't be found. She was sitting in the dark closet, silently crying while stroking a very content Mrs. Norris. Diina didn't realize she was hearing music until the words were floating through her head.

_Now I will tell you what I've done for you, fifty thousand tears I've cried. Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you and still you won't hear me. Don't want your hand this time, I'll save myself. Maybe I'll wake up for once. Not tormented daily, defeated by you. Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom. I'm dying again. I'm going under, drowning in you. I'm falling forever, I've got to break through. I'm going under. Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies, so I don't know what's real and what's not. Always confusing, the thoughts in my head, so I can't trust myself anymore. I'm dying again. I'm going under, drowning in you. I'm falling forever, I've got to break through. So go on and scream. Scream at me, I'm so far away. I wont' be broken again, I've got to breathe. I can't keep going under._

As Mrs. Norris began to purr, Diina mused over how truly she felt that song conveyed her feelings at this moment. It was hours before Diina slid back into a consciousness of time. Realizing she had missed both breakfast and lunch, and that it was dinnertime, she stood and carried Mrs. Norris with her to the Great Hall. When she got there, she caught the tail end of Dumbledore's speech.

"...we are attributing her disappearance to the occurrence that is causing most of your magic to go horribly wrong. If anyone has any information on the cause of this occurrence or the whereabouts of Mrs. Norris, please inform us immediately," Dumbledore said.

"Mrs. Norris is right here," Diina called from the doorway. Every pair of eyes fastened on Diina, who suddenly felt like a horrid, thieving worm.

"Mrs. Norris!" Filch exclaimed, coming over and gently prying his cat out of her arms.

-

Harry watched as Filch took his beloved cat from Diina. He wanted to tell her how he felt, and something rose up inside of him. Music started ringing throughout the Great Hall. Everyone searched for the source, but ceased immediately when Harry began to sing to Diina.

_How will I start tomorrow without you here? Whose heart will guide me when all the answers disappear? Is it too late? Are you too far gone to stay? This one's forever, should never have to go away. What will I do? You know I'm only half without you. How will I make it through? If only tears could bring you back to me, if only love could find a way. What I would do, what I would give if you returned to me some day, somehow, some way. If my tears could bring you back to me. I'd cry you an ocean if you'd sail on home again. Wings of emotion will carry you, I know they can. Just let love guide you and your heart will chart the course. Soon you'll be drifting into the arms of your true North. Look in my eyes, you'll see a million tears have gone by and still they're not dry. If only tears could bring you back to me, if only love could find a way. What I would do, what I would give if you returned to me some day, somehow, some way. If my tears could bring you back to me. I'd hold you close and shout the words I only whispered before for one more chance, for one last dance. There's nothing I wouldn't give and more. If only tears could bring you back to me, if only love could find a way. What I would do, what I would give if you returned to me some day, somehow, some way. If my tears could bring you back to me._

The music faded away and Harry waited for Diina's response. However, McGonagall came by and whisked the two of them out of the Hall, down many corridors, and into Dumbledore's office, where they waited briefly for the Headmaster.

"I would like to speak to Diina alone for a moment, Harry. Would you mind stepping out into the hall?" Dumbledore asked. Harry complied, slipping out the door. Shutting the door behind him, Harry pressed his ear against it, hoping to hear this conversation.

-

"Sir, do we really have to do this?" Diina asked. "I don't feel like talking right now."

"We can sit in silence until you feel like talking," Dumbledore replied kindly, sitting down at his desk.

"It's personal...oh alright, I'll tell you. Harry and Draco asked me to choose between them. But I'm confused, so I said I chose neither. I don't know what to do. I like Harry, but I like Draco too!" She felt a funny feeling inside her. "I...think...I feel a song coming on." And with that, she began to sing.

_Who, who, who to choose? Who to love and who to lose? Who, who, who'll be mine? In whose direction points the sign? Who will love me in return? Who'll be steadfast, taciturn? Who'll leave and who'll stay? Who will never run away? Who can always make me grin? Oh, whose arms will I rest in? How can I make this choice? Please God, may I hear your voice? Will you tell me which to choose? Which to love and which to lose? Whose proposal should I take? Whose heart will I have to break?_

The song was interrupted by Snape charging into the office, carrying an extremely large, old book. He dragged Harry in and had Draco and Sue trailing behind. "I've figured it out," Snape proclaimed, giving Dumbledore the book. "It's a very old and very complicated potion. It was never given an official name, however it's been referred to as Tuireadh Gaol, or Mourning Love. A potion for those hopelessly in love and unable to express their feelings, it first has the two switch bodies so that they may see themselves through the other's eyes, then returns them to their bodies the next day, having them express feeling through song."

"Wait just a minute," Diina said. "Are you implying that secretly, I love Sue or Sue loves me, and Harry loves Draco or Draco loves Harry?"

"No, Miss Riddle. You didn't let me finish," Snape said, shooting her a glare. "It is intended for only two people, so when Sue tried to make it for four, it caused...problems. I don't believe you'll enjoy the side effects. Next month, you'll switch bodies for one day again. However, you will not switch with the person you did yesterday. A month after that, you'll switch with the only person you haven't been previously."

"That's just creepy. Sue, I'm going to kill you," Diina mumbled.

"Also, the urge to sing to express your feelings will last for a year," Snape added. "You should be able to control it though."

"You know, I'm just so glad that I came here," Diina said sarcastically. "If I hadn't, my life wouldn't be in shambles." She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

-

Blaise Zabini watched Diina come in, curl up on the couch, and cry. He had a secret crush on her, but with Potter and Malfoy competing for her affections, he'd figured he didn't stand a chance. But for Diina to be crying like that meant that either one or both boys had done something wrong. Comforting her would be a good way to begin a relationship.

"It kills the soul to see an angel cry," Blaise said, sitting on the table in front of the couch. She looked up with tear-stained eyes. He conjured a rose and presented it to her.

"Thank you," she whispered, rewarding him with a smile.

"If you ever just want to talk, look me up. I'm always available," he said, getting up and heading for his room as he had seen Malfoy come in when Diina had taken the rose. When he reached the stairs leading to the seventh-years' room, Malfoy grabbed him by the neck of his robes.

"What was that about, Zabini?" Malfoy hissed.

"Just being friendly," Blaise replied softly.

"See to it that you don't get too friendly," Malfoy said, letting go.

-

Draco had watched her from the shadows for a few hours. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep. He crept out of the shadows and stroked her tear-soaked cheek gently with the back of his hand. She stirred, and he retreated to the shadows. When she did not wake, he let the song he'd been suppressing out.

_I wait in the darkness. Frozen winds surround my face. In the cover of darkness I can make believe it's you. I feel you like the rain, I feel you like a storm cloud, building in my heart. I wonder if you know the pain, to want the one thing that you haven't got. Just a twist in time, and you could be mine. Just a sip of wine, and you could be mine. Just a kiss divine. A hand brushes by my love. A smile fuels a steel inferno. You don't have to die to leave my world, stand still and you've departed. It seems I'm not on your mind and I'm just wasting my time. I'm just a fool to believe. Just a twist in time, and you could be mine. Just a sip of wine, and you could be mine. Just a kiss divine, and you could be mine. Won't you leave me in the darkness? Take away the pride, all the dignity that's burning inside. Can't you see I'm standing naked? I'll bear all the crosses and crucifixes you can provide, if you could decide. Just a twist in time, and you could be mine. Just a sip of wine, and you could be mine. Just a kiss divine, and you could be mine._

-

Sue wandered the halls, calling for Mince. Harry had informed her that Peeves had stolen her dog. She sniffled, thinking that Peeves might kill Mince and began singing.

_Dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies aren't much fun. They don't come when you call, they don't chase squirrels at all. Dead puppies aren't much fun..._

Her voice echoed off the wall as she continued to sing while avidly hunting for her precious pup.

-

Okay, time for credits...The songs must be given their full due.

Harry's first song was "All Cried Out" by Allure. His second song was "If Only Tears Could Bring You Back" by Midnight Sons.

Diina's first song was "Going Under" by Evanescence. Her second song wasn't actually a song, it was a poem by one of my readers Corporal Spivilles...

Draco's song was "Mine" by Savage Garden.

Sue's song was "Dead Puppies" by Dr. Demento.

-

Also, if any of you have any ideas of what you'd like to see happen next in the story, email me I'd love to hear what you guys think, and I'm open...if I use your ideas, I will give you due credit. Also, tell me who your favorite character is in my story right now...I'd love to know who is good and who needs improving.


	25. Chapter 25: Getting Help from Sue

These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Hey, sorry this one took so long. I've been so busy with classes this semester that it took forever to finish this chapter.

Chapter 25: Getting Help from Sue

Draco strolled menacingly through the halls in a fashion very similar to Professor Snape. His brow was wrinkled in deep thought and his mouth was forming a deep scowl.

_Potter is the problem. Potter is distracting her. That's the only reason she hasn't said 'yes' to me yet. It's got to be that! He's standing in my way. I will have Diina…I just need to do something about Potter. That's the key. So, he's in my way…is there a legal way to get him **out**_ _my way?_

Draco thought about that for only a moment before determining that the answer was 'no.' It didn't matter. Legality was so overrated. Obviously, Diina wouldn't care for Potter if he was dead, but then, who would Draco ruthlessly torment? Annoying Weasley and Granger wasn't fun unless Potter was there to try and be noble.

_Let's see…I know a potion that can turn that git into a gibbering idiot…unfortunately, it's one that I've never been able to concoct, surprisingly enough. Who in the school is more talented than me at Potion-making, excepting Snape?_

It took him only a moment to come up with the answer, and what he came to frightened him terribly.

Sue.

He was absolutely loathe to ask for a Muggle's help—especially that Muggle—but there was no one else who could do it. She had made that potion that even Snape had said was ridiculously complex…unbelievable as it was, Sue was a master potion brewer without even trying. Draco's scowl deepened. The thought of asking her for help made him absolutely sick to his stomach, but if he wanted Potter out of the way, he had no choice.

He stopped for a moment to listen, and sure enough, he heard eardrum-splitting wails of "Mince, Mince!" coming from the dungeons. Apparently the mutt was still missing in action.

Draco turned and followed the screams, quickly conjuring a pair of very good earmuffs and firmly placing them over his vulnerable ears.

"Why, why? Mince, why did you leave me?" Sue sobbed as she threw herself repeatedly into the wall of the dank, dripping Potions classroom. Draco nearly laughed at the sight—he would have, that is, if he hadn't been nearly deaf. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sue.

"_Silencio!"_ he cried. Immediately Sue fell silent, but she continued to move her mouth and throw herself against the wall as if she hadn't even noticed as Draco removed his earmuffs. Draco made a disgusted face and walked over to her, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to sit.

"Shut the hell up, you banshee, and I'll remove the spell!" he yelled. When she didn't respond, he shook her roughly until she looked at him. She blinked a few times, confused, then made an indignant face and began to move her mouth some more. From the way she was looking at him and waggling her finger, Draco could've sworn she was scolding him. He rolled his eyes and removed the spell.

"Don't! Speak!" he shouted as she opened her mouth to talk again. "Just listen. I…need…your…help." The last word bounced roughly off of his tongue like the opposite of a curse word, because he had absolutely no problem saying those.

Sue, however, didn't appear phased that Draco was asking for her help. She just continued sitting in the chair, now silent, staring at Draco with an expression that implied that she hadn't heard him and was still waiting for him to speak.

Draco began to gesticulate wildly, and yell something that, on TV, would've sounded remotely like:

"YOU BEEP, WHAT THE BEEP BEEPING BEEP ARE YOU JUST BEEPING SITTING THERE FOR? GOD BEEP, HAVE YOU NO BEEPING MIND? I BEEPING TELL YOU, NO ON IN THE WHOLE GOD BEEPING WORLD IS GOING TO BEEPING EVER TAKING YOU IN! YOU'LL BE BEEPING ALONE FOR THE BEEPING REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

Naturally, Sue just blinked at him and shrugged. She stood up and began to leave, to once more resume her search for her lost puppy, when Draco grabbed her arm.

"Sue! I need your HELP!" he yelled desperately. This was his final chance to get Diina once and for all, and he knew (much as he hated to admit it) that he was going to need Sue's assistance.

"Sleeping," Diina mumbled to her tormentor, keeping her eyes closed and rolling over in bed.

"You made a commitment," the tormentor reminded her. "Besides, it's almost eleven."

"Fine, fine," she sighed, opening her eyes. The tormentor turned out to be Blaise. _That's right! I promised to spend the day with him in Hogsmeade._ She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. It made her already Medusa-like hair worse, but she didn't care at the moment.

"We'll have to do something about that," Blaise remarked.

"I'll run a brush through it," she replied while Blaise picked up her comb, climbing into the bed behind her and began gently combing her hair. After he finished, she shooed him out of the room to get dressed. The room was empty of all other occupants, so Diina was throwing prospective outfits out on all the beds, when she realized the date.

Valentine's Day.

_What've I done? I agreed to go with a boy to Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day! How could I be so stupid? He's gonna think it's a date. Alright, I need to dress modestly and casual._ There was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called, standing at her closet in her pajamas.

"Hi," Maelona said, shutting the door behind her. "I wanted to help you get ready."

Maelona immediately took charge. Within minutes, Diina found herself in black flats, black thigh-high stockings, a red, long-sleeved, knee-length, off-the-shoulder dress, and a black lace poncho. Not long after that, she was walking down the path to Hogsmeade with Blaise. He took her to the Three Broomsticks and bought her a Butterbeer.

Harry sat at a table with Ron and Hermione in the Three Broomsticks, glaring over at Blaise Zabini and Diina. "She certainly works fast," he muttered, raising his beverage to take a sip.

"Oof," Maelona moaned as she was shoved into Harry by someone walking past her. She had jarred the arm with the hand that held the Butterbeer and some splashed out onto him. "I'm sorry. Let me help." Maelona pulled out a handkerchief and dried him off as best she could, finishing up by wiping off the bottle. Without another word, she trotted off.

Harry drank deeply, almost finishing his Butterbeer. He felt someone watching him and when he looked up to find the source, his eyes found Malfoy's piercing silvery eyes fastened on him. _Why is he staring at me? Maybe I should go talk to him._

Draco could help but smirk as he watched Maelona 'help' Potter. She had bumped into him on purpose. Maelona was known in Slytherin for her fast hands. Draco had her using that talent to get the potion he'd had Sue concoct into Potter's drink. _What a fool_, Draco thought as he watched Potter gulp down the now-tainted beverage.

Potter looked over at Draco. After a few moments, he got up and came over. "You have nice eyes," Potter said. "Mind if I sit with you?"

_What the bleeding Hell is going on? He's supposed to be ranting and raving like a maniac_. Having heard no verbal protest, Potter sat next to him and offered to buy Draco a drink. _Wait a second, is he coming on to me?_

Diina glanced around the room while Blaise was getting them a second round. When her eyes fell on one particular table, she literally fell out of her seat. _Harry and Draco are sitting together? It looks like they might actually be having a civil conversation! What could the two of them talk about? Oh, wait, stupid question. It looks like I'm going out with Blaise, which they won't like since they both want me. If they're plotting to get Blaise out of the way, I'll kill both of them._

Draco was just about to tell Potter to shove off when:

"BONZAI!" Sue yelled, coming at Potter from the side. She knocked him into Draco, and they ended up on the floor, with Potter on top.

"Potter, you git, get off!" Draco hissed while Potter blushed like a school girl. Draco tried to shove him off, but Sue had perched on Potter's back and Draco didn't have the leverage to move both of them.

"It w-was AWFUL!" Sue wailed. "I c-c-can't do it without M-m-Mince." She burst into tears. But moments after she'd begun crying, she dried her eyes. "C'mon, Draco. You promised to help me search if I made that potion." She clambered off of Potter, yanked Draco out from under him, and headed for the door, dragging a very reluctant Draco Malfoy behind her.

"I'll help," Potter offered. As they passed a table, they were stopped.

"Draco, it's so nice to see you and Harry coming together," Diina commented. "And it seems you're making friends with Sue as well."

Draco jerked his arm away from Sue and pulled over a chair, eager for any excuse to put off the puppy search. "Quite clearly I'm not the only one making friends," he replied, glancing over at Zabini. Draco's death glare at Zabini was blocked by Potter taking a seat between Draco and Blaise.

Potter was sitting very close to Draco and looking at Diina over the other boy's shoulder, so that his chin was just barely resting there. Draco, in turn, stuck his foot behind one leg of the chair and deftly flipped it.

Diina leapt up with a shriek and dragged Potter to a standing position. Potter, slightly disoriented from having cracked his head on a nearby table, began to wobble around the room ineffectually, until he made his way back to the table, and tripped over Blaise's foot, falling forward so that he was stretched out across Blaise and Draco with his head in Draco's lap. He looked up, slightly cross-eyed, and grinned girlishly at Draco.

"Hello, Draco, how are you?" he slurred. Diina reached for him roughly and pulled him off of Draco and Blaise, both of whom were looking rather frightened and disgusted.

"Harry, maybe you ought to go back up to the castle," Diina said. She looked around the room and spotted Sue, who was sobbing over her lack of Mince. "Sue!"

Sue looked up, bleary-eyed. "What?" she sobbed, snot slowly oozing from her nose. Diina made a disgusted face and heaved Harry into Sue's arms.

"Harry wants to help look for Mince! He thinks he saw her in the Gryffindor boys' dorm," Diina said quickly. Sue brightened immediately and threw Potter across her shoulders like a dead deer.

"Then off we go!" she cried, pointing triumphantly to the sky. With that, she bounded out of the room, jumping so high that Harry's head hit and made a dent in the doorframe.

Draco, Blaise, and Diina watched the spot where Sue had been before with slightly interested faces before shaking their heads and tutting. Diina sat down between Draco and Blaise, and glared pointedly at Draco.

"Didn't Sue say you'd promised to help as well? Maybe you ought to keep a promise one of these days," she snapped. Then, she put on an ooey-gooey sweet voice. "It'd mean the world to Sue!"

Draco, for his part, glared at Diina in return. She was right, of course, he had promised to help. He'd only done so because he'd hoped Sue would forget about it, but the girl's fluctuating memory capacity seemed to be at its peak right now, much to his displeasure. He really didn't want to leave Diina alone with Zabini, and he desperately cast around in his mind for an excuse.

"Erm…well…you know how Sue gets…con…fused?" he said weakly. _Pathetic, _he chided himself. _You're a Malfoy, and that's the best you can come up with? You're a disgrace!_ "Of course, what I really meant was, both Potter and I agreed to help," he said quickly. "Sue thought that today was my turn, but it was, in fact, Potter's. So I am quite free at the time, and do have the _perfect_ intention of keeping my promise, thank you very much!"

Diina raised an eyebrow. He was lying through his teeth, that much was obvious. Of course, Draco did that a lot, and Diina was more than used to it. But, she had to find a way to get rid of him…

"Well, don't you have some lady friend you'd like to entertain?" she remarked snidely, knowing full well that her comment would be like poking his temper with a needle. "After all, since I did turn you down…surely you're back on the dating scene. What girl in the school wouldn't want you? Besides me, of course." She wasn't sure why she was being so rude…it was probably in correlation with the fact that she had been having a good time with Blaise, and didn't want Draco to barge in and ruin it. She had a life separate from him and Harry, after all!

"Well, I've decided to keep myself for you, in case you change your mind," Draco replied.

"Ah-huh," Diina said, rolling her eyes at him. Blaise looked back and forth between them, somewhat nervously. He liked Diina a lot, but he didn't want to cross Draco. "Well, Draco, you know that's perfectly fruitless," Diina said. "I've already made my decision and I'm standing by it. In fact…" In a last ditch effort to make Draco leave, she grabbed Blaise's arm and pulled herself into his lap. "Before you interrupted us, Blaise…asked me to be his girlfriend," she said.

Blaise jumped slightly at Diina's words, but was more than pleased to have her in his lap. To go along with what she was saying, he wrapped his arms around her hips and looked up at her. "So, what do you say, darling? Will you be mine?" he asked.

"Of course, pumpkin," Diina responded sweetly, giving the tip of Blaise's nose a peck.

Draco's mouth dropped. _How dare she! She's just—why—she's—ARGH!_ "Quite a dense move, both of you," Draco said softly. "Have your fantasy, for that's all it is."

Leaving them to ponder his words, he left the pub. When he stepped outside the door, he saw a cluster of reporters coming. Grinning wickedly, he walked up to them.

"I just saw Diina Riddle in the Three Broomsticks," he remarked. "If you hurry, you might catch her."

The reporters dashed off, and Draco headed for the castle, composing a letter to his father in his mind.

Diina saw the reporters before they saw her. "Hit the deck," she muttered, shoving Blaise over towards another table and preparing to dive under one in the hopes the reporters wouldn't see her.

"Oh, Miss Riddle," one called.

_Too late_. Diina put on a smile and resisted the urge to run while the reporters made their way over. "One question at a time," Diina commanded before they spoke a word. The reporters clearly weren't pleased at the idea, but decided to play by her rules. For the time being, anyway.

"Miss Riddle, why was it so important for you to come to Hogwarts? Record has it that you weren't attending a school for witchcraft and wizardry in America," a female reporter with chestnut brown hair said, pulling parchment, ink, and a quill out of her bag, which had her last name, McLaren, embroidered on it.

"I'm not quite sure myself," Diina replied. "That information hasn't been released to me yet, but as soon as I know, you'll know." In all honesty, Diina had no intention of telling them whenever she did find out. She'd probably be sworn to secrecy anyway.

"Are you here to kill Harry Potter for You-Know-Who?" a young man with dirty blonde hair asked. His personalized parchment declared him to be Mike Levine.

"If I am, my uncle certainly hasn't informed me," she retorted bitterly without thinking.

"Are you seeing Harry Potter in a romantic way or are you with him purely for the sake of your public image?" Levine continued.

"Excuse me," Diina snapped. "If you're implicating that I'm using Harry for personal benefit, well, that's simply not true. Whether or not it's romantic, I really can't say. I'm currently having difficulties in my love life. However, it's none of your business and if you continue asking about my personal life, I'll answer no more questions." Her anger was quite apparent; she was red in the face and her eyes possessed a look that promised an extremely painful death for the next journalist who might have the audacity to ask about her love problems. And that's when all Hell broke loose.

"Is there another man you've set your sights on?" Levine asked.  
"Does Potter have another girlfriend?" McLaren said at the same time.

"What can you tell us about the deaths of those Aurors on December 26th of last year?" "What was the reasoning behind their deaths?" "Did you kill the Aurors as proof that you plan to follow in You-Know-Who's footsteps?"

"Who's next on your list?" McLaren added. Several of the reporters glanced over at Levine, for he had touched upon Diina's love life, and it had clearly angered her.

"No comment," she said softly. Then she pushed her way through the reporters and went back to Hogwarts, leaving Blaise behind without a second thought.

"It's your fault, imbecilic wench!" Draco grumbled.

"I followed your instructions," Sue defended herself, poking Harry with a wooden spoon and wondering when he'd wake up. "You must have copied them wrong."

"I did not copy the directions incorrectly. You must have omitted something," Draco argued.

"Nope, don't think so," Sue replied casually, jabbing Harry in the ribs with her spoon. _What's taking so long? He should be conscious by now. How else is he going to help me find Mince?_

"Well, there's the whole problem. You didn't think," Draco snapped. "Would you stop that?" he roared as Sue shoved the handle of her spoon up Harry's nose.

"Man! I was sure that'd get him," Sue said sadly, wrenching her spoon's handle free.

"Have you been paying attention? I won't help you find that stupid mutt unless you make the potion correctly," he reminded her.

Sue screwed up her face in concentration. With amazing force, she brought the spoon down on Harry's forehead. 'CRACK!' Her spoon was now in two pieces. "He broke my spoon!" Sue wailed, kicking Harry in the side. Naturally, it was all his fault. Draco glowered at her.

So Sue made the potion again, with Draco hanging over her shoulder the entire time. However, that wasn't necessary; Sue's execution was flawless. After pouring the brew down an unconscious Harry's throat, Sue dragged Draco off to hunt for Mince.

Draco sat next to Diina and Blaise the next morning at breakfast. Blaise was going on about something while Diina listened intently. Then she looked over to the door and dropped her fork, staring at the one who had just entered.

It was Potter. Draco noticed that all the Slytherin girls were staring as well. In fact, every female in the Great Hall seemed entranced by Potter, who threw a smile at all his adoring fans before taking his seat between Weasley and Granger. Granger fainted.

_So Potter's become irresistible to women. But I know Sue didn't screw up this time. So what went wrong? Whatever it is that's been screwing up any attempt at magic must have messed up the potion as well._

"He looks absolutely scrumptious," Pansy sighed.

"A real fox," Maelona swooned.

"Anyone up for a fox hunt over at Gryffindor Table?" Diina said with a mischievous grin. She led the girls over to Gryffindor Table, where she took Granger's seat next to Potter. Millicent Bulstrode pushed Weasley off the bench and took his seat. The female population from the other tables flocked over, clustering around Potter.

Potter put one arm around Millicent and the other around Diina, leaning back against the girl directly behind him. Anyone who could reach his utensils fed him, treating him like a king.

Harry's day continued to be much like breakfast. In Divinations (which he only took in the hopes that Trelawney would have another vision concerning the war with Voldemort), he received fifty points for telling Trelawney how nice she looked today. He earned another fifty points in Transfiguration for saying "Good morning, Professor McGonagall."

In every class, all the girls sat as close to him as possible. Any girl not in the class would be waiting outside to escort him to his next lesson or wherever he might be headed. They even waited outside the boys' restroom for Harry. (They had offered to come in and help him, but he assured them he would be fine.)

Draco watched all this from the sidelines, barely able to see Potter over the positive typhoon of swooning girls. However, he didn't need to see him to know that the wretched Gryffindor was absolutely reveling in it. Draco's scowl was present almost perpetually, because he was always either passing Potter and his massive escort or he could hear girls giggling over him. It was enough to make any proper Slytherin sick.

And speaking of proper Slytherins, Draco felt himself more than abandoned. Millicent, Pansy, and all of the girls who usually fawned over him were now fawning over his worst enemy! It was sickening, and Draco blamed Sue for all of it. It was her fault, of course, because she was the one who made the potion, even if there was something messing with magic.

"…and then I poured it down his throat," Sue explained, never once mentioning Draco's name. "So, can I go look for Mince now?"

"Certainly," Dumbledore said, suppressing a sigh. This girl proved to be more of a hassle than Voldemort. Apparently, the potion she had concocted had gone wrong. And now, every girl in Hogwarts came to class late and left early to escort Harry around the grounds. Luckily, Madam Pomfrey had a stock of remedies for a time like this.

Dumbledore sent for Harry, and was surprised when Harry arrived with all the girls in his Potions lesson. Where they got the nerve to leave Snape's class was beyond him. "We'll wait right here," Hermione promised as Harry tried to shut the girls out of the office.

"The hell with that," Pansy said, shoving Hermione aside and leading the pack into Dumbledore's office.

Snape arrived then, fury on his face. He had to be sent to Pomfrey for a poppy tincture due to all his twitchings and mutterings about how Potter had disrupted his class and ruined the entire lesson.

Harry took a seat and the girls settled themselves around him. Pansy and Hermione sat at his feet, resting their chins on his knees, and Diina was massaging his shoulders.

Dumbledore instructed Harry to see Madam Pomfrey, handing him a note he was to present to her. The girls were dismissed and told to return to their lesson. They grudgingly complied. Dumbledore forced Harry to wait fifteen minutes before personally escorting him to the doors of the Hospital Wing.

Diina pulled a rather convincing stagger into the Hospital Wing. She had purposefully run into a suit of armor, receiving a horrible gash on her forehead, just for an excuse to go to the Hospital Wing. She knew Harry was there.

Pomfrey was busy with Snape in a far corner with her back to the door. Diina slipped up to Harry as he sat down a cup he'd been drinking from.

"What happened to you?" he asked concernedly, staring at her forehead.

"Oh, I'm just so clumsy. I tripped over my own foot and fell smack into a suit of armor," she lied. "What about you?"

"I had to drink this potion. It tasted awful," Harry replied.

"I'll make it taste better," Diina said, leaning in.

Draco held his arm tenderly. When Pansy'd told him that Potter had to go to the Hospital Wing and Diina hadn't returned, he'd burnt himself for a plausible excuse to go to the Hospital Wing and see if Diina was there. If she was, he'd keep an eye on Diina, making sure she didn't go anywhere near Potter.

Thus, he was extremely displeased to walk in and see Diina at Harry's bedside, leaning over him, doing what Draco was positive he didn't want to admit that she was doing, which was frenching with Potter. He scowled, quickly turned it into a grimace of pain (which wasn't hard), and sauntered over to break it up and make it awkward. "Mind if I join the party?" he drawled, tapping Diina on the shoulder with his good arm.

Diina pulled back and stood there, looking from one boy to the other. She tentatively touched her lips, shook her head, and promptly left the Hospital Wing without getting healed.

"BONZAI!" Sue yelled, appearing out of nowhere to tackle Draco to the ground. "LOOK WHAT I FOUND!" She held up a hair between her thumb and index finger. "It's one of Mince's! We'll pick up the trail from where I found it, c'mon!" Draco glowered at her until she finally realized that he wasn't going to help her. "But I made that…you-know-what…for you. I did everything right, it's not my fault if it didn't work. Do you want me to try again?"

"No!" Draco practically shouted. "I don't want your 'help' ever again!"

Madam Pomfrey turned around at that moment. "You!" she shrieked, pointing at Sue. "Out, out! Before you break any more vials of remedies! OUT!"


End file.
